Burning skies, Burning hope
by orlha
Summary: Set twenty years after Yoko's ascension, Yoko senses something is amiss. She descends the mountain to find the source and resolve it. However things never turn out the things they want it to. Yoko finds her troubles grow into something resembling a civil war. Trust and friendships become a precarious knife edge.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Author's Note: **

**This is set twenty years after Yoko's ascension. **

**For most things, I will try to be faithful to the book rather than the anime. Therefore there will be no Yuka Sugimoto and no Ikuya Asano. **

**Terminology. **

**I have resisted using most Japanese words in my previous story, but I will now refer Queen/King as Ou. So Kei-ou instead of Kei Queen. It's annoying to type. Have decided to use English names for certain places, unless you prefer to have them in 'japanese'.**

* * *

"It's been done master," said the low rumbling voice from within the shadows.

Yoko simply nodded without lifting her head. "Good job Hankyo." She dropped the last book onto the finished pile and sat back to enjoy her uncharacteristically empty table. Behind her, the moon hung high and bright like a ball of burning silver, unclouded by the wisps of clouds. Yoko tapped her chin absentmindedly, lost in her thoughts until the rustling of cloth and soft clang of sword broke her from it.

"Come in," she said before even waiting for the knock.

Her two most trusted ministers entered with an anxious look on their face. Both armed as though they had expected some sort of disturbance. Yoko could hardly blame them for being worried. All she had done was tell Hankyo to tell them to come to her study immediately and without anyone knowing.

"It sounded urgent." Kantai's statement lingered an unspoken question. His eyes wandered across her room: the clean table, the small bag by the side of table. "Are you leaving?"

"If you are, then let us accompany you."

Holding her hand up to stop the influx of questions, Yoko looked at them dispassionately. "Both of you must stay. There is a situation that I must investigate. No one must know that I am not here."

She held her hand up again to stem their objections.

"Koshou, it is imperative that you pretend that I am here. Say whatever you wish for the reason of my absence. Say I'm sick or do not wish to see anyone. I don't care. No one must know that I am not here."

She turned to Kantai. It was a pity that she could not bring him along. It would be a great relief to know that she did not have to watch over her back constantly. Human bodyguards were less suspicious than shirei bodyguards. Should she be attacked for any reason, Hankyo pouncing onto the assailant would be very conspicuous. Kantai glared back with a determined look in his eye. He was obviously not going to take no for an answer

"Your majesty, at least let me come along. Koushou's disappearance would be very obvious but a general's disappearance would not be."

"Kantai, be prepared to be summoned. Make sure you are alone every day at least an hour before moonrise. I will send word through Hankyo and I do not want anyone to learn of my instructions. For that reason, you must stay."

She turned to look at the moon. She had not dismissed them. "Hankyo?"

"The Chosai is approaching," came the monotonous voice from the shadows.

It was within moments that the trio heard the soft padded steps on the thick carpet. Koukan smiled as he entered the room, unfazed by message or by the questioning looks of Koshou and Kantai. That was something Yoko liked about Koukan. Always calm and collected, he gave off the impression that he was always prepared.

"As I have expected your majesty, you are leaving tonight?" The edges of his mouth turned to form a small but stiff smile. Koukan was not happy despite his cheerful tone. They had gone through this argument countless times. He knew she was not going to change her mind.

She nodded giving him a wry smile.

"Very well." There was a note of resignation as Koukan spoke. "Then if you'll let me, there is a man in Gyouten. If you won't accept Koshou or Kantai, then at least let this man protect you."

He handed Yoko a small card and a small bag of coins. On it written simply was the name of a person, an emblem and an inn. "I have also prepared you a kijuu, something that would not attract attention."

"Thank you Koukan."

She pulled up her cloak. By now the moon had already sunk low just onto the horizon. The Cloud sea seemed ablaze with the pale light of the moon. Gaishi bowed as she strode through. He had been expecting her ever since Koukan had ordered him to ready the Rokushoku kijuu. Kantai, Koshou and Koukan watched her as she leapt onto the kijuu.

"What is he called?" She pointed at the kijuu.

"Houto, your majesty."

"Burning Winter huh." She patted the white kijuu. It was a fitting name. Red mane and white coat, it would seem like the snow was burning when it flew. Turning it around, it leapt off as she gave them one last glance.

There was no telling how soon she would return. If everything went well, then perhaps she would be back to that stifling court in a matter of days. Chances of that happening were close to zero. That was something the four of them knew.

As they watched her soar into the dark sky, her silhouette shrinking into the distance, a lonely feeling overcame them.

Koshou turned to the two of them. "So errr- Who's going to tell the Taiho?"

* * *

It was the beginning of another autumn. The cool mist drifted in from the outskirts of Gyouten, settling onto the steel-coloured roofs. The shutters of most buildings were still open though the weather has started to cool. But they probably were not closed at night until winter had finally to settle for winters in Kei were chilly at best. Yoko landed at the back of one of the buildings just at the sun had begun to peak above the horizon and chase the night away. A pale orange had started a slow spread through the now navy blue sky. There was a low buzz of animals waking and people moving about, readying to start their day.

As compared to the start of her reign, the buildings were better maintained now. There was budding signs of prosperity in them as she strolled through Gyouten. New signs, fresh paint, clean doors and even expensive silk hung on some of these buildings. Yoko could not help but be cheered by these signs.

It was only until she finally stopped in front of the Jade Wine Inn that the burdens of being a king returned. The inn was a modest building. The pillars and doors were well-worn but well maintained. The steps were smooth from use with a simple wooden sign for its name. Plain lanterns with a simple flower painted on it hung on both sides. Neither too expensive nor too shabby to be eye-catching, it was just plain enough for the eye to glaze by without noticing much. Yoko could not help but wonder if it was on purpose for it seemed almost like a calculative plainness. Had she not sent Hankyo to look for it, she may have just as well walked right by it without noticing it.

A young boy was sweeping the steps when she stopped in front of it. Like the inn, he was modestly dressed, a plain green hoh and matching brown pants. He paused in his motions to look up upon noticing Yoko. Before leaving she had taken pains to dye her hair, it was unlikely anyone would notice her just based on her hair colour.

"May I help you?" he called out.

"I was told to find a man called Satouku here."

Quickly placing his broom by the pillar, he motioned towards the door. "This way please."

The building must have been bigger than what it looked for Yoko followed the boy through a bewildering amount of twist and turns. Finally, the boy ushered Yoko into a room before closing the door behind her. Yoko spun around. For just a moment, fear seized her heart. Had she been locked in? She could feel a cold slither down her spine. Joyu had become nervous in her moment of panic. _No, Koukan would not have lead her to a trap._ She forced herself to breathe normally as she logically thought it through. He knew that such things would be nothing for the shirei to break her out of it. It would have been an utter waste of effort and time.

She sighed and sat down, taking her time to examine the room. A single lantern lit the windowless room. It was sparsely furnished, plain and simple just like its exterior: a single bed, a single table and two chairs. Yoko was beginning to think that the owner of the inn was just merely frugal. The plainness must not have been calculated as she had earlier believed. Her hand fell onto the bed sheets. It was smooth like silk. Taking the lantern, she bent down to look at them. The bed sheets were plain, but they were silk of the highest quality. This was the kind of silk Yoko saw in the palace. The plainest had truly been deceptive.

Just as Yoko mused over her new knowledge, the door swung open. The man or rather the boy was barely a man. Looking about seventeen or eighteen, his piercing grey eyes scrutinized Yoko as she did the same for him. Averagely built, he was not too muscular to stand out nor too frail looking to be under-estimated. Calculated just like the furnishings of the room were.

"I heard you were looking for Satouku," he finally said, closing the door behind him. "This room is safe to speak."

_Safe to speak?_ Yoko considered that sentence. _Where had Koukan sent her to?_

"I was sent by Koukan." She placed the small card by the lantern. The boy frowned.

"How can I help you?"

"What is this place?"

The boy looked at her indignantly. "Why have you come here if you do not know what this place is?"

"Koukan insisted that I'd come here. He said that I'd have no one else, then at least let this man be my bodyguard." She tapped the card.

The cloud on the boy's face cleared in an instant after hearing her words.

"I see. In that case tell me what the situation is."

"This is a delicate issue. I must know what this place is first," Yoko insisted.

"This is the department of that deals with things that cannot be named. We were originally under the last king and since the last three queens failed miserably, we have faded further into the unknown." He chuckled humourlessly. "We were originally a secret department to start with. Now only a few ministers know us."

"Something like a secret service, I guess," she muttered. _Koukan had sent her to find her secret service and make use of it._ She smiled inwardly at that thought.

"So you must be sennin."

The boy gazed at her thoughtfully. "I do not believe this has anything to do with your situation."

She smiled ever so slightly. "I do not believe it does. I just could not help but being curious. Why did Koukan send me to you?"

Then without warning, she leapt forward. Her hands were empty, but she was not unarmed. Yoko could feel Joyu leap into motion, her arms swinging effortlessly to counter the boy's moves. She jumped into the air, dodging his attempt to swipe her legs out and landed in a roll.

They stood facing each other. Despite the short exchange, they were both gasping. Moves quick and swift in a tiny enclosed area was not an easy feat.

"I see." Yoko said. She sat down on the bed. "There is a situation at Bu Province. If it is not resolved in time, this may end up in a bloody civil war and I wish to avoid that. Without going into specifics, there is a group of instigators there and they must be dealt with."

He nodded. "I will come with you. Jinhaku's my name. "

"I'm Youshi." They bowed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to leave at noon," she added off-handily.

Jinhaku nodded and motioned at the bed. "Rest, I'll wake you before then." He turned and left.

In the cool darkness of the windowless room, Yoko drifted off into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Yoko was shaken away, her body leapt into awareness. Her body unfortunately did not include her eyelids and so while her hands hurried to prepare to leave, her eyelids were still heavy with sleep. Yoko felt the large warm hands gently grab her shoulders and steer her towards the delicious smells. She sat there, spoon in hand, bowl in front for what must have been minutes before her eyelids finally roused. That was when she realized she surrounded by two men. Their faces were wide with amusement and posed no threat beyond hurting her pride.

"Rishou, stop laughing and help out," Jinhaku called out. The burly man hurried to obey though he looked back with a mischievous grin. "Shinzou, you too."

Were they coming along? Yoko was certain that she had hinted that she wanted to be discrete. She watched the duo as they bustled with loading packages onto the kijuu. They were anything but discrete. She wondered if it were better that she just left. Surely she did not really need any help.

"Master," the tiniest voice said from under her feet. This time it was not Hankyo but Hyouki.

Her eyes flickered anxiously to group of men. None of them had noticed it. She did not expect them to, but she had to be careful. Bending low over her porridge she whispered, "Yes."

"Taiho is furious. He says to return or he will come down to fetch you himself."

"Tell him if he does that, it'll not only endanger the operation but also may cause my death."

She could hear the pause in Hyouki's replies as he tried to ascertain the information that she had just given him.

"Master-" There was a quiet plead in his voice. It was unusual to hear such from the shirei. Keiki must be beyond furious for the shirei to be nervous on returning without completing their task.

"Leave."

She turned back to watch the group. Shinzou slid onto the bench in front of her. He had a goofy grin on him that reminded Yoko strongly of Mickey Mouse.

"Hello!" He exclaimed. "So I heard that you are going to resolve that issue in that province. Were you the one who read the report about it or were you the one who received orders about it?"

Yoko looked at him puzzled before glancing at Jinhaku.

"Don't worry! This place is safe from spies. This is the back end dining room. We have two dining rooms. The one where normal guests stay and eat and this. Even the rooms are separated. There are many twists and doors to go through before you find this. Even then, we don't get many guests."

"How many people are there in this organization?"

"Oh! There's about –"

"We are ready to leave," Jinhaku's words slid through Shinzou's. The last man of the group stood patiently beside his tenba. His face held a disinterest look, but his eyes held a quiet alertness and displeasure at Shinzou.

Clearly the number and perhaps the name of the organization was a secret. In that case, Satouku must have been either a secret code or an entry code. Yoko's mind whirled with possibilities. Ever since she had ascended, she had considered making such an organization. It would help nip corruption in the bud but the question on how to make sure this organization would not be corrupted. Such questions had plagued her when she thought about it and the more she thought about it, the harder the system required became. It seemed all too neatly that one such system had already existed from the previous king. At least Tatsu-Ou had been a great king, besides doing some maintenance on the systems he had put in place, Yoko might just be able to use it altogether. Upon thinking this, Yoko felt she was bursting with joy.

She schooled her face to the impassive face, her mind returning to the situation at hand. There were four kijuu including hers. Four, the exact number of people in this room.

"Are they coming as well?"

Jinhaku nodded. "But separately." He added before Yoko could ask. He swung onto his beast. His face said nothing but he gazed at her expectantly. Yoko raised an eyebrow as she motioned at her dishes. "Someone will get it."

As she mounted Houto, Yoko could not help but wish for Kantai. She was used to his easy going silence. Travelling with Jinhaku would probably be anything but easy going. No use wishing for something she could not have. The reasons she had given Kantai were valid and highly probable. Still fresh from the rebellion at Takuhou, they knew what was at risk here should she fail.

The dining room was built oddly. For starters, the kijuu were packed and mounted then travelled out to the city from the dining room. They travelled through some _rooms_ that was equally winding before they finally burst into the dazing sunlight. Much thought had been put into the architecture of the building. It looked like a normal inn from outside, but it had been merged with the three stores surrounding it. Out of those three stores, two of them had their own fronts. One sold basic groceries while the other sold plain weapons. Like the inn, nothing too fanciful to attract attention. The third store was a stable. It made perfect sense for the door from the hidden interior connected to the stable as a walkthrough. This made people walking out on their kijuu an acceptable sight.

Much like the pace Yoko had travelled in to arrive in Gyouten, they travelled hard to arrive quickly at Bu Province. It was punishing pace given that they had to travel by land in order not to stand out. It was almost gate closing time when they reached the first major city in Bu Province.

Yoko turned to speak to Jinhaku, only to realize that the other three had already scattered. Though they were close by, it seemed that they were travelling separate.

"Jinhaku," she grabbed his arm, forcing him to move a pace slower. "I will apologize in advance if we end up in the jail. We'll probably end up there sooner or later."

"I'm assuming it might be part of the mission."

Yoko nodded. It had been two weeks ago when she had received the first report from Saibou. A bunch of merchants were moving Touki. Not only were they unlicensed, they were in great bulks distributed into small packages. It reminded her strongly of the rebellion in Takuhou, so she paid extra attention to it. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. How many more corrupted ministers were there? Were they hiding in Bu Province? Yoko could not find any answer in any of the reports. After much deliberation, she decided to send Sekki to sound it out. Sekki had a knack of finding the true situation. At that point of time, sending Sekki had been the best bet. The regular reports from Sekki had given her a more realistic view of what was happening down there and it not good. It was salvageable then. When the reports ceased, she knew something had happened. The question was not what had happened; the question was how to deal with it. To send Kantai and a platoon secretly or not was much too conspicuous in the Kinpa Palace where gossip moved faster than laws and plans. The only choice was to go down herself. Now she was down in Bu Province to do with two things: save Sekki and eliminate the instigators.

The large stone walls loomed ahead. White stone with dark green tiles, thick and large wooden doors, just seeing them made Yoko feel apprehensive. Yoko had considered what she had to do. Finding the instigators were important after all if Sekki had to be taken out, then it may well be that he was carrying some kind of important knowledge. The Suiguutou had shown her that Sekki was well, albeit filthy. Hankyo had confirmed that he was alive though he was not able to speak with Sekki due to the constant surveillance. Yoko had insisted the shirei not to make his presence known. Being from only the Greater Learning institute, Sekki's alliance with her was not known. That was the reason why she had picked him. Had it been any other minister, she could have been connected too easily.

Pulling from her breast pocket, Yoko showed her travel pass to the guard. She had taken lengths to secretly find a low ranking stamped travel pass to avoid any possible suspicions. The guard gazed over it briefly and motioned her through.

"It's busier than I expected it to be in Bakushou," Yoko said. Things looked fairly prosperous even compared to Gyouten. Bearing in mind that Bu Province was on the outer edges of Kei and the portion closest to the East, she had expected more damage inflicted cities even if it was a major city like Bakushou.

"Bu Province is the wealthiest among all the provinces," whispered Jinhaku. He flicked his pale green hair from his eyes, his eyes scanning the crowd as he spoke, "Ministers invested their money into here." Evidently it was something that both Sekki and Yoko had not picked up.

"Corrupted?"

He shook his head. "Putting money here is considered the _safest investment _for those who do not own fields."

_Safest investment? _That sounded a whole lot like how the Hourai people thought. She shook her head. The work cut out for her was a lot bigger than she imagined.

* * *

Koshou stood stiffly outside Yoko's office doors. The three retainers and he wore sour faces. There was a reason for those sour faces. A few reasons in fact. The first and foremost was because the current reason on why no one could enter the study was because the Queen was resting and they had been yelled at for some desperate minister forcing his way through. They allowed the person asking permission to enter to guess which minister that must have been without letting on any names before the person would scuttle away to bring news of some minister that had fallen out of the Queen's grace. The second reason was due to the fact that they did in fact had been scolded. Just that it was the Taiho that had scolded them in his quiet fury.

The four of them were in agreement that the Taiho's quiet fury was more frightening that Shoukei's loud anger. Yoko's anger was a mix but what type of anger she had was hardly important. To begin with, Yoko rarely lost her temper. Therefore at any point of time when Yoko was angry, it meant that she was extremely angry.

Not to digress, the weather was a particularly fine weather to stand outside an empty room and sulk. Koshou's attention wandered away as the small songbird perched on a nearby branch and erupted in song. Toshou signalled to them upon seeing the approaching kirin. He hurried forward to assist the kirin with the pile of documents.

In Yoko's study, the previously empty table was now stacked with piles of documents. That was two week's worth of documents. Soon Keiki would have to make the trip to his master carrying the documents and possibly even her seal. That day when Keiki found out that she had slipped out at night to descend the mountain, he had been mixed with both worry and angry. Since then he had sent Hyouki to assist her and inform him of what was happening. Hyouki had obeyed like all shirei do and for the first week, he had returned with regular reports. It seemed that his master was caught in some terrible mess that steadily getting from bad to worse. Now it had been a week since Hyouki's last report. Keiki could feel his gut curl in anxiety.

"Taiho-"

Keiki looked up from the pile of documents. Had he been so preoccupied that he had not heard Koshou call? His delicate eyebrows knotted peevishly.

"Enki is here."

Sure enough, in a distance Keiki could see the bright gold hair. Enki was strolling down the long hallways, carrying a package in his hands.

"What is that?" Keiki ask when Enki dropped it into his arms. He held it awkwardly, the way a man would when he held his first born for the first time.

"A gift of some sorts," he replied nonchalantly. Looking around, he noticed that while stone-face was here, red head was not. "Where's Yoko?"

* * *

Separated by two wooden doors and a hallway, the two figures snoozed in the darkness. Silence had fallen onto the bustling town as the night grew longer. All was quiet, save for the gong as the time watcher walked by.

"Master," a small whisper came from the shadows.

Her eyes snapped open as though she had been waiting for that very whisper. "Speak."

"The weapons landed in Jouzou city. They were separated into two packages. One to the provincial capital, Tougoku and the other much further east, Mensou."

Yoko guessed as much. It would have been easier for her to track the money for it would lead with much certainty to the source. Yet due to the fact that there had been too much money to track, she decided to follow the weapons. Out of five trips, one would certainly go to Tougoku but the other always changed. The other must be a decoy while the real receiver was Tougoku.

She lay there in the darkness, not moving the slightest, just thinking. Her actions were beginning to rouse attention. Not to mention due to that, the frequency of trips were increasing.

"What do you think?" she finally said. She knew the shirei was still there, waiting for her to dismiss him. Though they spoke little, they often had a different insight to the situation. They were after all, looking in from outside the box and they were not human to being with.

"You'll have to make a move soon. Only difference in timing is whether the first move was made by you or them."

It was pretty much the same idea. "Thank you and good job, Hankyo."

Yoko had an inkling that she might have been watched. One of the two shirei would have been able to confirm her suspicions. But with Hankyo busy tracking the real importers in Tougoku and Hyouki busy tracking exports, she could hardly ask them. She considered it for a moment. There was the issue of saving Sekki as well.

"Hankyo. Is there anyone watching Jinhaku and me?"

"Yes. Just one. Would you like me take him out?"

"Yes, but don't kill. Make it look like an accident that is unable to return to surveillance and unable to send word to whomever he works for that he cannot." Yoko felt her shadow lighten as he whisked off to do as she commanded.

"It's been done," he replied, not a moment too soon.

"Is he hurt bad?"

"No, just a lump on his head. He fell into the thick bushes beneath the tree and will not be discovered by anyone until morning."

She swung from her bed, her legs touching the chilled wooden floors. Quickly she pulled on her soft leather boots. Her sword made a faint clang as she swung it over her back. She strode quietly but hurriedly across the hallway and knocked a silent knock on the opposite room. There was a shuffle of cloths before the low voice replied, "Yes."

"We're leaving."

The door swung open to reveal a fully dressed Jinhaku. His luminous green hair was carefully hidden under a dark bandanna. Ready in an instant, Yoko could not help but admire him. He nodded. His grey eyes showed no hesitation or confusion despite the fact that Yoko had not offered any answers. Thrusting the other mask towards Jinhaku, she pulled a mask over her face. They leapt down from their second storey room. She tumbled into a soft roll as Joyu bent her body to cushion itself. They sought the shadows, moving from shadow to shadow. Slowly but steadily, they picked their way across the town.

Yoko aided by Joyu made no noise as she leapt from shadow to shadow, rooftop to rooftop. She was not surprised that Jinhaku was capable of such feat. If she had not gotten it wrong, the Satouku organization was more than just spying. Perhaps even assassinations. The speed that he had dressed in and the readiness without any much knowledge probably showed more than he let on. He was a warrior, ready to obey without question.

Yoko stopped just before the jail house to contemplate on how they were going about breaking in. Though Hokyuu was just a city, it was the second biggest in Bu Province. They did not joke about the jail. Surrounded by tall walls and manned by archers, there was no easy way of getting in without being noticed.

"Here," came the quietest whisper beneath her feet. Yoko leapt. Guided by Hankyo and aided by Joyu, she made her way to a small man hole within a sleeping house. The cover had been loosened by Hankyo and she shimmered her way down.

Behind her, Jinhaku was keeping up. He had not expected her to be able to move so stealthily. He had seen her as a minister and perhaps a soldier due to the fighting skills she had revealed in their first meeting. Soldiers were never good with stealth work. So when she showed that not only could she fight and do investigative work but also move silently, evading even the night watchers, he was more than surprised. He crouched, mimicking her actions as they began to approach a door in the middle of the drain. Either they had been lucky that all the drains and doors were left open or something out there was helping them. A cold shiver travelled down his spine as that popped into his head. If there was something out there helping them, then he did not want to know anything about it.

It was a moment's notice that he noticed the soft landing of feet behind him. He lunged backward, slipping deftly through the man's legs. Knife in hand, he slashed the right ankle before dodging the man's sword. The man's right leg dipped as his ankle tried to support his weight. The attacker was no fool, rather than forcing his ankle to support the weight, he sank on his knee, using it as a pivotal point. Sadly, between the attacker and Jinhaku, his speed was incomparable to Jinhaku. Before he had been managed to lunge at Jinhaku, Jinhaku had appeared behind, readying his blade to slash his throat.

"Don't kill," hissed Yoko urgently. If they killed any guards here, then they would be hunted down as murderers. Things would be a lot worse for them.

Yoko's warning, however, came a little too late. The attacker collapsed to the floor, hands clawing at his throat, desperate to stop the bleeding, then motionless. Yoko swore inaudibly. There was nothing she could do but hurry on. Time was wasting.

**Author's Note: **

** Liber Fatum: Yes Shouryu is one of the main characters in this story, just that he doesn't appear so soon. Shouryu, Enki and surprise surprise, another character that we all know well. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Author's Note: Does anyone know the currency of 12K besides "ryou"? Else I'll follow the old Japanese currency which is Ryou (gold), Bu (silver), Shu (bronze), Mon (for the cents?).**

They ran down the narrow hallway and though the sound of their footsteps echoed noisily, neither of them made any effort to soften it. There was hardly any point to do so for what seemed like the whole contingent of jail guards had been roused and whoever who had not been alerted to the intruders were in the process of being alerted. Knocking yet another guard down, Yoko rushed forward. She trusted Jinhaku would take down any others; those that did not, found themselves tripping over the shadows and falling flat onto their faces.

"This way," Hankyo quietly called. The route to Sekki was winding. The deeper she went, the more it felt like the light was being snuffed. There were no windows in these cells. She made a mental note to inspect all the jails in the provinces when she returned. Surely the guards were not so barbaric as to ill-treat prisoners.

She sidestepped a frontal swing, swirling around to tap lightly onto the back of the guard's head. The guard slid to the ground, unconscious. She had to admit that it was difficult to fight a man that was out to kill you while attempting not to kill him. One man, Yes; a whole company? Probably not. She could feel her exhaustion growing.

"How much further?" she asked urgently as she ducked another head blow.

"Just ahead."

Feinting a left, she skidded under the two remaining guards and arrived at a dark, dank cell. Sekki's appearance did not surprise her. She had seen him through her Suiguutou, however it did not prepare her for the smell.

"Sekki!"

The boy that looked back at her was hardly the boy she remembered. Tall and muscled from the training that his brother had ingrained in him, she had looked sorrowfully into the bright brown eyes. She knew exactly what he was being sent into and he knew that too.

She slashed the bars open, her sword cutting through the metal as though it was mere wax. Mere cast iron metal would hardly stop the sacred treasure of Kei.

The motionless figure looked up.

"Your-"

She hushed him before he could finish his greeting. He stood there chained or rather he snagged against the chains that held him up by his arms. Blood, new and old, streaked down his arms. He took a swaying step away as Yoko hacked the chains off. Then wordlessly, he collapsed against Yoko. He was conscious, but barely. Had Yoko waited any longer, _they _might have decided that they weren't getting out of him and decided to do off with him. She held him. Her heart filled with guilt and fear. Dried blood cracked down his face. Even without examining him, she could see the red welds down his ragged back.

_How dare they. How dare they torture a man in the Kingdom of Kei!_

She looked up. The sounds of noise grew louder. There would be time to weep and time for apologies, but now was not the time. She gulped audibly, forcing the hot unshed tears back.

"Clear the way," she muttered to nothing in particular.

Hoisting him over her back, she began to make her way back out, all the time following the sound of the voice that no one but her could hear.

* * *

Shinzou saw everything from his vantage point. He saw the man that had been spying on Jinhaku and Yoko fall to the ground all of a sudden. Of course the man had not seen him. Shinzou, unlike Jinhaku and Rishou was the master of shadowy things. People just did not see him unless he wanted them to. In Tatso-ou's time, he had spent most of his time in the shadows. The four of them had different specialities; that was why they were assembled compared to everyone else. They were all able to do most of what each other could do, just that they were better in certain things. He knew that Rishou was a master of stealth killing and infiltration despite his build. Although he was not sure what Jinhaku and Youtashi was. Among all the others in the organization, he did not get along with Youtashi very well.

Youtashi was a silent boy. He was only fourteen when he became part of the organization. Perhaps he was a master of deception. Shinzou could only guess. He had seen Youtashi change personalities the way people changed mask. One moment he was that servile boy that got up early to sweep the doorway of the inn, the next moment he was would be that sly street rat.

The division of work was divided between the three of them, naturally since Jinhaku was the leader of the mission. Shinzou and Rishou took turns to guard the Jinhaku and Yoko while Youtashi - Shinzou was not sure.

As they entered the city, he saw Jinhaku pull up to Youtashi and whispered to him. Since then Shinzou had not seen even the shadow of him.

_They were on the move._ Shinzou pulled himself back from the recollection. Watching them skulk from shadow to shadow. Why was he not surprised that Yoko could actually skulk? It seemed that she was good at doing everything. There must be something that she was not good at.

He hopped from tree to tree, noiselessly and unnoticed by those who walked below. It seemed that Yoko knew exactly where she was going. Did she do prior scouting? He had not seen her do such. Yet she moved with such precision it almost felt like someone was guiding her. He almost laughed at that thought. Jinhaku glanced behind. _Was that the signal?_

_Two hoots. Two hoots again. _That was the signal he was waiting for.

He spun around and made his way back to the inn. Time for him to work.

* * *

"This way." Jinhaku grabbed Sekki from her shoulders and surged ahead.

Would they be able to return to the inn to grab their things? There was still a ton of paperwork that she wanted to keep.

They dashed through the buildings, uncaring of the noise they made or who saw them. Hazarding a look backwards, she could see the guards far behind. Hankyo must have been keeping them at bay. Yoko was not so sure where Jinhaku was leading her, but he was not heading towards the inn. They rounded another building, twisting and turning through the alleys. She picked up her pace to catch up with Jinhaku.

"We lost them for the moment. Where are you planning to go?"

Jinhaku said nothing, his eyes scanning the streets as they struggled to hide themselves in the slow sunrise.

"Here." They came to a stop at an old tree surrounded by three buildings. It was one of those places that if you did not know about it, you probably would not have found out. Seemingly secluded from the rest of the world, their two mounts with probably their baggage in the packs on the mounts stood waiting for them. She raised her eyes, just in time to see Shinzou leap away. There was no time to ask, she would have to wait.

Putting Sekki in front of her, they kicked off. They rode hard and fast into the mountains. It was only just before noon that they finally stopped for a break.

"How did Shinzou know?" She took large gulps before replacing her water container below the waterfall.

"Secret code."

He watched her bathe Sekki's wounds. Jinhaku had, in a way, guessed that they were going to retrieve a person. When Yoko had mentioned that they might land in jail, he assumed that they were going to infiltrate a jail by getting caught then retrieving that whatever. Her methods were rather rough and her inexperience shone through. There were better ways to do these kind of things, but it was not his place to discuss them. Had she asked for his opinion, he would have given it. However seeing that she had not, he decided to not volunteer information unasked.

The clear water turning into a muddy red as it flowed its way down. Yoko placed the Hekisoujo into Sekki's hands before bandaging it to hold it there. "What is that?" Jinhaku asked. He dropped a small bag of ointments before her with a quizzical look.

It would be difficult to explain its properties away without giving her status away. "It's a charm to get better," she replied at length. With Jinhaku's help, they peeled Sekki's clothes away, bathing more of his wounds before applying ointments. The wounds were red and blistering, a good sign she guessed. At least they were not festering. The older wounds seemed to heal fairly well too. Had they given him medication? It did not seem likely to Yoko. The accounts of these people were ruthless and methodical. It reminded her strongly of Gahou and Seikyou.

_Is it possible that it was them?_

"What is our next move?"

She looked up from her pooling thoughts. "We covered Bakushou and Hokyuu, so I guess the next would be Tougoku."

"What about him? He nodded towards Sekki. They couldn't leave him here and couldn't transport him anyway safe either; they would lose too much time.

"Don't worry, I sent for someone."

"When and how?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Secret code." She smiled faintly at him. "We must hurry though."

* * *

"Where's Shouryu?" Rokuta asked Mousen as he entered the stables. Shouryu's favourite suugu was noticeably missing.

Mousen just shook his head. Rokuta had hardly expected him to know. Shouryu was always vague in where he was going. Stifling a sigh, he turned his mount around and leapt out.

"Ahhh! Taihou! Where are you going? The Chousai was looking for you!"

Rokuta could hear Mousen yelling in the background, but he had to find Shouryu. Hakutaku would just have to wait. They were used to waiting anyway, a little longer wouldn't kill – at least not literally.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The mid afternoon sun was drifting into the room when Sekki finally woke up. A wet towel lay over his eyes, providing relief to his merciless headache. Though his head throbbed viciously, it did not hurt as much as the rest of his body. His clothes clung to him, drenched in his sweat. Slowly testing his body, he moved to sit up. His body screamed in protest before someone gently pushed him down. Gentle hands brought a cup of cold water to his mouth where he tried to gulp it down.

"Slow down," the soft voice teased. She pulled the towel away. Shoukei sat beside him holding the towel. She dipped the towel into a small bucket before looking back at him. "Do you want a bath?" She turned and nodded to the man standing at the corner of the room. Stunned at finding Shoukei beside him, he had not noticed the man.

He was tall with long brown hair tied into a neat ponytail. With arms folded, he leaned against the window as though uncaring of what transpired in the room. His blue eyes betrayed his stance for they watched Shoukei and him with keen eyes. They flickered to the passing vehicle.

_Probably a paid bodyguard. _

Sekki's head hurt too much for him to think. A bath sounded good and maybe some food. Pig slop was better than the food in the jail. His stomach growled in agreement. Shoukei smiled upon hearing his stomach. "Food and a bath then. Shinzou?" She motioned to the man who moved forward to do her bidding. He waved her away and she was gone. The man was remarkably light with his touch. Perhaps he was sympathetic to Sekki's wound-ridden body, Sekki suspected that he might just be used to it. He deftly cleaned the wounds before re-applying the medication and bandaging up again. That was when he realised that bandaged in his left hand was none other than the Hekisoujo. So that was why his wounds were healing startlingly fast.

"Sekki." Shoukei stood beside the bed holding a tray of food. The man whom Shoukei called Shinzou helped him to the bed. There a spoon was pressed into his right hand and his left was brought to a warm bowl. It was porridge with chunks of meat and vegetables. His mouth watered as he dug into the bowl.

Finally clean and stated, Sekki asked, "Where am I? How long was I out? Where is -"

Shoukei held out a hand, interrupting him before he could continue. "You are in Bright Prosperity Inn which is in Tougoku. You were out for four days." She paused, a grim smile filling her pretty face. "_Youshi_ is out and about. I do not believe we will see much of her soon."

Sekki leaned towards Shoukei, his voice was grave as he spoke. "I must see Youshi. I gave crucial information."

They looked towards Shinzou who tried his best to look disinterested. "Fine fine," Shinzou sighed. "It's a good time for a nap I guess."

Shoukei stood to pull the shades over the window and in the shadows they sat there in silence. Outside there were the sounds of the merchants calling to the passing pedestrians and every so often there was the sound of a bumping wagon. "Kei sounds lively again," She said after some time.

"Where is her-" he caught himself before calling her by her honorific. "-_Youshi_?"

"I have no idea. Except I was instructed to stay here for the moment. It was difficult getting you into the city." Shoukei chuckled. Her laughter spreading into her eyes and for the moment, her face chased the anxious look. "We had to dress you up as a lady. You look like such a fine lady too that one of the gate guards look a liking for you."

He shot her a look. "Not important. Can we get Youshi here?"

"Yes not important," she looked melancholic as she said that. "I believe that we can send a message to her, but I am not certain if we can get her to return since she is investigating something. Jakko."

"Yes," Jakko's reply barely audible.

"Tell her that she must not attack the house, Seikyo is here."

* * *

Yoko slowly stretched her legs. For hours she had squatted on the same branch on the same the tree, just waiting and watching. This was the right house. As Hyouki reported, there was at least one visitor every two to three days. Some came empty-handed with one or two mounts and left well-packed. Others came bearing large boxes and left empty-handed. There had been more than once incident were Yoko had been able to see the contents of the containers: toukis, all of them.

As the man with the well-packed mounts left the house, she signalled. Jinhaku sat nearby on another tree. Both barely visible in the growing darkness. Had she not known that he would be there, she might not have seen him. Now the house was empty, save for the caretaker and the seller.

They jumped over the fence and through the garden. Silently, barely rustling the grass blades, they slipped through the open window. They crept along the silent hallway, carefully choosing their footsteps to minimize the floor's creak. Cautiously, they flanked the sides of the door. There was silence from within.

Yoko considered for the umpteenth time. This was the best way to deal the rebellion in the bud, but why did she had this sinking feeling in her?

With a nod, Jinhaku kicked the door in. Swords unsheathed, she followed. There was a sharp piercing whistle that disorientated her briefly. Yoko felt the cold crawl down her spine as Joyu moved to intercept the sword. Ducking, she dropped into a side roll and eyed her assailant. He was large and burly with muscles the size of her head.

_Figures his weapon is an iron spear._

They circled each other, both ignoring the fight that went on behind them. Then she leapt. Pulling her sword to a downward blow, he spun away, quicker than he appeared to be. He swung. The large heavy weapon hummed in the air. She had anticipated that and quickly sidestepped. She swung again, this time managing to catch his shoulder. He grunted and swiped her feet. She leapt. He caught her by the foot and threw her into the wall.

Yoko lay there. Her lungs screamed for more air. Her heart beat reverberated loudly in her ears. The chair had softened her fall but still every part of her back hurt.

_Get up! Get up! _

She watched him sauntered over. So certain he was of her defeat.

"Hankyo," she whispered, barely audible.

With a snarl, the white blur rose from the shadows. The man took a hesitant step back. The fight behind him was gone. His ally was gone and so had Yoko's. Hankyo sprung onto him, his large paw pressing onto the man's throat while his body's weight forcing the man onto the ground.

Yoko climbed to her feet, pulling herself up with the hell of Hyouki. The man had been very frightened but upon the sight of Yoko as she moved into the moonlight, his body started to tremble. It was not fear that it shook with, it was laughter.

"Tell me, who is sending these touki," her voice was sharp. She motioned to Hankyo to release enough pressure to allow him to talk.

He laughed and laughed till there tears in his eyes. "Left the palace to escape the Queen, but here she is. Again." He choked on his laughter. "H-Heaven has sent her majesty to punish me."

A chill crept down her spine as she heard those words. "Hankyo! Bring him to the light!" Hankyo dragged him and just for the moment that he released his grip on the man, the man pulled a dagger and slit his throat. Blood gushed out of his throat, pooling onto the floor. She moved towards him. Crouching, she examined him. He was none other than the daiboku that she had exiled for being in cahoots with Seikyo.

_What is going on here?_

"Youshi." Jinhaku called, breaking into her thoughts. He vaulted over the balcony railings. Despite his fight, his chase and his return, he was barely out of breath. "We must go now. The soldiers are here."

"Soldiers?"

He looked apologetic as he explained. "Someone saw us fighting in the streets and summoned the soldiers. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." She whipped the blade around, flinging the dirt off it. "And the man?"

"Sorry," he looked dejected. "He escaped as I moved to dodge the soldiers as well."

She could hear the thunder of footsteps on the stairs. She leapt over the railings, this time catching herself onto the nearby branch. With a signal, they scattered.

Yoko thought hard about what little information she had. If the old daiboku was here, then was Seikyo and his lackeys here?

_Is Seikyo pulling the strings here?_

She had exiled most of his lackeys. Koukan had argued for a more severe punishment, Keiki had pleaded for mercy. In the end she had decided to exile most of them save for the very vicious ones. Yoko could almost hear Koukan saying 'I told you so'.

* * *

Shouryu was sitting by the window, enjoying the sea breeze. He had been in Shou Province for the last two weeks. There was nothing quite unique as the pleasure house by the Kyokai. The view was unique; the people were vastly different from the rest of his kingdom.

_Even the wine is-_

"Shouryu-!" Rokuta entered, his hair was bundled up by the black cloth that he wrapped around his head. Shouryu continued sipping his wine, lost in his own thoughts or maybe persistently trying to ignore the kirin. Rokuta stood in front of Shouryu, arms folded with a really cross look on his face.

He sighed. "What is it?"

"It's about Yoko," Rokuta began. He knew that Shouryu was interested in what Yoko did. Compared to the other rulers, Yoko was a fairly exceptional ruler; exceptional referring to different in an unusual way, not amazing. Rather than simply worrying about feeding her citizens, she cared deeply for the welfare for them. Again, welfare here did not limit to the health and hunger, she cared for their well-being, their self-esteem and equality. Instead of just accepting things as it were, she insisted on changing the system radically even if it meant more work for her.

"So what did she do again?" Shouryu asked.

"She left the palace again."

"To En?" he looked at Rokuta with a questioning look. He had not heard of her asking for a traveller's chop.

"Keiki says she is somewhere in Bu Province, but officially, she is in the inner palace."

"Bu Province huh-" Shouryu looked thoughtful at that name.

"Why? What's there?"

Shouryu chuckled and gulped his sake down. "My other mistress. I just remembered that I have not visited her for awhile."

"Here I thought you were thinking of something deeper," Rokuta said hotly.

"Awww- Don't be jealous!" Shouryu reached over to hug Rokuta.

"Hey!" He hated it when Shouryu tried to act like he was babying him even if he knew it was a joke. Rokuta slipped under his arms and backed towards the door. "I got to go anyway. Hakutaku was looking for me." Without waiting for a reply, he hurried away.

Shouryu returned watching the void sea, his thoughts this time turning to Bu Province.

* * *

Yoko paused in the shadow of a building. Carefully scrutinizing her surroundings, she scaled the tree and crept into a room where its patron slept deeply. The sleeping patron did not even rouse as she slinked across and through the door. It was only after she entered her room that she allowed herself to breathe normally again. Yoko could feel the cold metal prick on her neck upon entering.

"Don't move," the voice growled.

Yoko squinted in the dark and faintly made out the silhouette of Rishou. "It's me. Youshi," she hissed.

He hastily lowered his weapon. "Where's Jinhaku?" He asked, scanning the hallway for another figure.

"We got separated." Yoko was too tired to think of anything else. She had spent the last four days camping out in a tree, then the next three hours fighting and evading pursuit. Tiredly, she rolled under the covers beside Shoukei and promptly fell asleep.

_Tomorrow would be a better day._

Or so she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Koukan sat in her majesty's study under the semblance of conferring with Kei-Ou. Opposite him sat Rankei. No longer a young boy, no one save for Yoko referred to him as Kei kei. His brown eyes moved from page to page, carefully inspection the document. Oddly despite many of the hero worthy men that surrounded him as he grew up, his idol was Gyousou, King of Tai. He had gotten to know Gyousou well after he joined Yoko to a secret trip to Tai. The trip was a secret from the minister of Kei, but most of the ministers from En had known about it. In any case, that was hardly of any importance. Rankei had inherited a mix of Kantai and Gyousou's fighting skills, making him almost the most lethal minister in Kei. Not to mention that he had been under Enho's tutelage since young. Had he not have a terrible wanderlust, Yoko would have appointed him as her second-in-charge after Koukan. Now that she was not here, Koukan had roped Rankei into doing much of her work.

"See here," Rankei pointed at a phrase and then at another. "The wording seems rather off."

Koukan pulled the document over. "You're right. I had not noticed it. This minister is quite sneaky."

Rankei looked at him with a puzzled look.

"It's not his first time adding such a clause or phasing." Koukan replied, returning to his document. "Just put it under rejected."

Rankei stifled a yawn, combing his hand through his hair as he chucked the scroll onto the growing pile of rejected. He stood, stretching himself from the long hours of sitting in the office. For a queen, Yoko liked to disappear for periods, Rankei had always wondered why. Now he knew. Sitting in the office for almost the whole day, it felt like the life was being sucked out of him.

"I'm done!" he declared, walking out of the room.

Koukan looked up. Was it displeasure or apprehension? Rankei decided it must be latter. There was no one who would rather sit indoors all day and read those sombre scrolls with their flowery language that beat around the bush- no one.

* * *

"Hey."

Rishou looked up. He had heard Youtashi enter and being familiar with him, he had known that it was Youtashi by his footsteps.

"Your turn already?"

Youtashi nodded, taking the seat that Rishou had just vacated. It was true that their primary duty was to watch over Youshi, but Youtashi's duty was far more than just that. In the beginning of the mission, he had been sent by Jinhaku to find out more about Youshi. He had not gotten much about her; almost nothing in fact. It was like she did not exist. All he had gotten was her movements almost nineteen years ago. She had stayed at a village in Ei Province, a village that had all their people killed by a stray youma. She alone had survived then moved into Shisui. After that, any trace of her disappeared. Most of the townsman knew of her; however they were unwilling to talk about her. Had she been so scary that none of them dared to? Or was it vice versa?

Youtashi was more inclined to the former. There were only a handful of minister that had been any good in the four reigns. The new queen had taken almost all of them. If Youshi was here, then it is likely that either she had been recruited as a shadow minister or Youshi was just plain corrupted like the rest of them.

_If she turns out corrupted, I'll kill her myself._

He glowered at the sleeping figure.

"Don't stare until like that. You look like you could kill someone," Shoukei chuckled. She looked up from the book she was reading. "She's not a bad person."

Youtashi turned to Shoukei. Shoukei had been an unexpected addition to the expanding group. From the way she sits and eats, the way she moves was all that of a poised palace girl. She was either a very high ranking servant or a high ranking lady minister.

Then there was Sekki, the wounded man that tested everyone's ability to act just to get him into the city. When Lady Shoukei had appeared, they had assumed that she was going to play a wife or something since Youshi was too manly to be the wife of such a weak looking man. They were rather stunned when Youshi and Shoukei dressed Sekki as a girl and brought him in as their sister. For good or bad, Sekki had pulled off the female look pretty well.

Yoko sat up, wide awake from her slumber. She had been so tired that they could not rouse her from her sleep. She turned to Youtashi who sat in the corner and asked. "Where's Jinhaku?"

"We should be asking you that," he replied hotly. "He has not returned since he left with you."

Yoko stood pacing the small room. Her three long strides reached the ends of the room. "We were being pursued, so we separated. It took me almost two hours to shake them off. I assumed that since he was better at hiding in the shadows, he would have no trouble." She stopped and spun around to Youtashi. "Send Shinzou to find out where he is now. Probably jail."

Youtashi nodded and left. Yoko pulled the blinds down and sat on the chair beside the bed. "Shoukei pack up. We will be changing inns. Sekki tell me what you find out."

"Well I paid one off one of the newly servants and had them reassigned to Baku province minister's house. Then I infiltrated the minister Gankou's house by pretending one of his newly recruited servants. During the one week period, Seikyou visited Gankou. I took the opportunity to listen in on the conversation."

"I met Rantai at the house yesterday."

"The ex-daiboku? What did he say? Where is he now?"

Yoko nodded. "He killed himself. Do you think Seikyou is pulling the strings?"

"I think that's highly possible."

She looked sharply at Sekki. "You don't believe so?"

"I do. But don't you think it's a bit convenient?"

Yoko sighed. Their investigation seemed to lead to dead ends. No one of a major suspicion turned up even after assigning Hyouki and Hankyo to investigate. Things were not just bad, it was terrible. Coupled with the fact that Jinhaku had now disappeared, she knew that there had been a possibility of this happening. She had expected it to be her not Jinhaku.

"Yes it is- " She stopped and waved a hand to silence them. "Come in."

The door opened and Rishou entered.

_How long had he been listening?_

"Youshi. After Youtashi took over my shift, I had taken the liberty of searching for Jinhaku." He paused as though waiting for response. When neither of them said anything, he continued. "I found him in the cellar of Minister Aoya."

Yoko considered it. It was important to retrieve Jinhaku but it was only because she felt responsible and it was the right thing to do. He held no important information.

_Would they believe them?_

She glanced at Sekki. If they had tortured Sekki for the information, what was stopping them from doing the same for Jinhaku? Time was wasting.

"Rishou. I will deal with that. I want the three of you to assist with moving to a new inn."

"I don't think that requires three people."

"There is something you need to do after you've done that." Yoko pulled out a piece of paper. "This list of names. I need you find as much information on them as you possibly can. Then I need one of you to track a man down. He goes by the name of Boshi. He carries the touki to and fro from a source that I cannot determine. I need you to find that source or sources."

She smiled grimly. "I'm sure you need three people for this."

* * *

Keiki was standing in the gardens watching the fish when one of his shirei had returned to him. The little flying rodent was one of the most useless shirei of the lot. She was not as clever as Hankyo and was not as strong as Jyuusaku. She could not even assist in transporting people like Hyouki. Perhaps her only redeeming quality was that she ran absurdly fast. This made her an excellent messenger if only she would stop getting her recipients wrong.

Bearing this in mind, Keiki was hardly surprised when she came bearing a message that was not intended for him.

"Jakko." Keiki stopped her from running away by grabbing her by the neck. "Tell me what her majesty has been up to."

Her whiskers twitched nervously. Not only had she gotten the recipient wrong again, she was being asked for the very details that Yoko had specifically told her not to mention.

"I was told by her majesty not to mention any of the details to anyone."

"Jakko."

She quivered and writhed in his hands. "Taiho- I was instructed specifically not to tell you."

He sighed a long sigh.

_Just what has her majesty gotten herself into?_

"Very well."

Keiki sagged against the pillar after Jakko had left. There was a heavy weight in his heart as he worried for her. There was nothing more that he could do for her. Except-

"Jyuusaku," he said. His voice was tight, betraying his attempts to hide his anxiety.

"Yes," the disembodied voice replied.

"Go to her majesty."

There was no reply, but Keiki knew that he had left to obey. Now he could only hope that she did not involve herself the same way the rebellion at Takuhou.

* * *

The room had been cleaned out. Jinhaku's men were efficient. In fact they were a little too efficient. Yoko had planned to take the time it took them clear out to finish the conversation with Sekki. So now she had to depend on Shoukei and the shirei to watch out for any eavesdroppers.

"I did not catch all the details that were discussed between them. But I know that they discussed about the touki at length. They said that the supplier, I think his name was Banko, was having difficulty procuring more touki. They were behind about 5,000 pieces behind their targeted amount." Sekki reached over and grabbed Yoko. It was as though he gained a certain kind of enlightenment.

"This is important Youshi," he said, his voice dropping even lower. "They were almost at their target. 5,000 is only a small fraction compared to the amount they have amassed."

She felt her body go still at his words. The silence in the room seemed to smother her. Placing her head between her hands, she forced herself to breathe normally before finally speaking. "A small fraction?" Her voice was scratchy as though she had screamed all her voice out before speaking.

_A small fraction?_

The three words echoed in her mind.

"Youshi." He tugged at her, breaking her from her thoughts. "They plan to move soon."

There was a look of disbelief as she looked up at him. Her clear green eyes mixed with confusion and maybe fear. Sekki had not seen fear in her eyes before. Not even when she led only a hundred men to meet the two battalions. He could hardly fault her for doing so. 5,000 soldiers was enough a cause to worry about, but when you take into consideration that 5,000 was only a small fraction of the actual sum. It could mean 20,000 or 30,000. Or worse yet, 60,000. That amount alone was close enough to rival the King's Army.

Yoko stood abruptly. Her face stared passively out the drawn windows. "They are waiting for you."

Sekki knew a dismissal when he heard one. Bowing, he left the room with Yoko deep in her thoughts. With that amount in consideration, she would have to trash most of her plans. She would have to draw up new plans.

The time has come for her to move.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The man contemplated for a moment. Just beyond the rooftops, the autumn sun was beginning to make its way down. The seasons here were slightly warmer than En. Even though they were clearly in the middle of autumn, the leaves on the trees were only beginning to turn red and gold. In En, the leaves would have already begun to fall.

_I could get used to this kind of weather._

The man was too cheerful in spite of his situation. He strolled down the dwindling streets, whistling gaily as he led his suugu down. The suugu stopped, sniffing then air for a bit before jerking around another corner. It was clear to any watching pedestrians that it was in fact the suugu leading the owner and not the other way around.

"Which way Tama?" he asked as the suugu stopped again. He looked up at the inn. The pillars were painted bright red along with the red roof tiles.

_Bright Prosperity? What kind of name is that for an inn?_

"Good evening sir!" the old man bowed as he entered. "A room? We have nice stables for your suugu."

The man chuckled. "I'm looking for a person. About this high with long hair. Maybe tied with a ponytail."

"Ah-" The old man looked crestfallen upon hearing his description. "That lad disappeared last night. This morning his belongings were taken away by the officials. If you are looking for him, you'll probably have better luck at the land ministry." The old man turned around rudely. It was clear that the old man did not want his kind around, regardless on whether he had a suugu or not. He stepped out, thinking on hard on his next actions when he heard the young voice call him.

"Shouryu!"

The man froze before turning to the familiar voice. Rokuta stared at him angrily. His kirin was beginning to wise up to his antics. He smiled brightly at the short kirin as though there was nothing wrong with him being here. "How nice to see you! What are you doing here?"

The kirin scoffed at his reply, "I knew you'd do this. I told my shirei to follow you and report to me the minute you entered Bu Province."

"There really is nothing wrong with me coming to visit my mistress. She's a really beautiful lady; long silky hair with a captivating voice and bright doleful eyes."

"Let me guess. She has red hair with green eyes?" The kirin smirked.

Bringing a kirin here would be close to disastrous. "Well that would be lovely, but she does not." He smiled sweetly, walking towards the brothels with the kirin in tow.

"Shouryu." Rokuta grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. "What are you planning?"

Shouryu chuckled. Placing his large hand on the short kirin, he said gravely, "To visit my mistress."

Rokuta grabbed Shouryu by the neck, forcing him to level with Rokuta's face. "Listen here. If you do something stupid, the most that will happen is that you'll die and I'll die. But what will happen to the commoners? They'll live on their natural life spans either in constant starvation or maybe die from youma attacks or natural disaster. Neither of that is pleasant." He breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath.

"So don't do anything stupid," Rokuta finally finished, releasing his grip.

Shouryu straightened up, pulling his hoh straight. "Don't worry, I won't," he replied. He spun around and continued walking on before stopping in mid-stride. "Take your shirei with you as well. I don't like being followed."

"That's an order."

There was a certain coldness in his last line that Rokuta could not identify and as much as he wanted, he could not defy an order given by his master.

* * *

Rankei spun around, the blade narrowly missed him. Flipping back, he pulled his sword forward to block the oncoming blow. Sparks flew as the blades collided. His blade flew from his hand and fell with a clatter to the corner of the room. Without losing a beat, Rankei surged forward using his speed as the advantage to close in for a barehanded blow. Kantai drew back but not fast enough. As he stumbled backwards, he attempted sweep-kicked Rankei who dodged forward, slipping through Kantai's defences. He pulled Kantai's sword arm, smashing heavily into it. Kantai winced, his grip loosing on his sword and it too fell. Before Kantai could react, Rankei had thrown a left-handed blow then spun, delivering a hook kick that connected firmly. Kantai flew several metres before coming to a stop.

"I give," Kantai grunted as he got up.

Rankei laughed as he moved to retrieve his sword. Rankei's skill had improved by leaps and bounds. Soon, he would be forced to take Rankei seriously while dueling. With Gyousou coaching Rankei, Kantai was hardly surprised that his skills were becoming rather vicious. He too had sparred Gyousou on several instances before. Gyousou's techniques were more focused on lethality rather than grace. Kantai was hardly surprised to find that out for before Gyousou's predecessor, Tai had been embroiled in a long civil war.

"What do you plan on doing now?" Kantai asked.

Rankei looked askance at Kantai, "Are you asking me if I'm going to look for Her Majesty?" He sheathed his sword, waiting for Kantai to reply. "Because I'm not," he continued when Kantai did not.

"Going to see my mistress. Promised her that I would drop by," he smiled though there was an inscrutable expression when he said that.

"Wait!" Kantai yelled. Grabbing Rankei, he pushed Rankei around to face him. "Her Majesty might be in danger and you don't even care? She raised you!"

Rankei brushed Kantai's hand away. "It doesn't change a thing. I am not her son or her subject. I am merely someone she knows." He marched out of the room angrily, not even giving a last glance.

* * *

The kirin stood at the edge of the garden, watching the leaves sway in the wind. So motionless he was that he could have been mistaken for a statue. His alabaster skin and pale blonde hair almost melted into the marble pillars that he stood beside. He was contemplating about a lot of things. For starters, the situation with the ministers seemed to have cleared up. They were a lot more compliant to his master's demands as they were before. They also had stopped scoffing at her ignorance at certain things, though it was mostly because she was no longer as ignorant as she was before. There was a sense of pride as he thought of that. She had grown into a very different person that she had been previously. When he had first laid eyes on her, he knew that Yoko was very similar to her predecessor. They seemed to have the same faults and the same wants, but Yoko unlike her predecessor had learnt the ability to battle with herself.

Of course, this was not the primary issue on his mind. He stared deeply into the pond as though trying to see through the ground and through the unkai that lay around the palace. Keiki could not shake the feeling of dread. He worried terribly for his master.

He did at least worry for a good cause and he was not the only one that was worried. It was clear that there was a disquieting feeling among the ministers that Yoko had picked out herself. There had been no word since a week ago. Though she had been out of the palace for awhile, she had often sent regular updates whether it was through the kijyuu that Koukan had presented her or through his shirei.

Keiki was torn between staying in the palace and going to Bu Province to find his master. Yoko had clearly told Hyouki that Keiki was not to come for doing so would endanger her. That would be a command. Going so would be to disobey her. Keiki clenched his jaws, his delicate hands balling into tight fists. He must go, he knew he must.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Author's Note:** Been busy with real life (and virtual), obsessed about playing this new game. (*_*) So yea. That's my excuse for the slow updates. Also this chapter is kinda hard to write for some reason and it's probably subpar compared to my other chapters. I just to get over this chapter and done with so I can move on to a different scene. Excuse the subparness.

* * *

There had been no news of Yoko. Rather than no news, it seemed that Bu Province and Tougoku had absolutely no news. There was usually the underlying politics within the provinces and cities, but there was absolutely nothing here in Tougoku or even Bu Province as a whole. There was no unsaid resentment or unhappiness. It seemed that the people here were perfectly happy. Then why on earth was there an incredible amount of toki here?

Shouryu puzzled over it as he drank his wine. It seemed like a bad situation for Yoko. Where was she anyway?

He looked up and caught the sight of a very familiar back. Chucking some coins on the table for his wine, he weaved his way through the bustling crowd, chasing after the man. He turned into an alley. Shouryu leapt back, narrowly dodging the sword.

"Whoa!" He spun away. His assailant was probably better than an average thug, but by not much. Shouryu moved half a step, the blade missing him. Grabbing the hand at the hilt, Shouryu stilled his assailant's movements. "Calm down," he said, gazing sternly into Sekki's eyes.

Sekki nearly dropped the blade when he realized that the man he had attacked was none other than En-Ou. "En-"

Shouryu quickly clapped over his mouth before he could finish his word. Shouryu whistled and from behind, his Suugu came. Hoisting Sekki on, they spun away high into the air.

A silence settled over them as Sekki struggled to keep his grip on the suugu. His teeth chattered incessantly as the cold sunk deep into him. It was true that Kei's autumns were mild, but no matter how mild they were, at the speed the suugu flew it made the mildest wind feel like a cutting blade.

"Where is Kei-Ou?" Shouryu asked. They had landed in a clearing in the middle of nowhere. Unlike Sekki, Shouryu had been largely unaffected by the wind. He was used to flying on the back of his suugu in colder seasons. Sekki pulled the hekisoujo out onto his hands. It was only until a slow warmth filled his chilled body that Sekki could finally stop shivering.

"Where is Kei-Ou?" Shouryu asked again.

Sekki shook his head. "When we changed inns, her majesty had gone to rescue someone. Since then it had been a week. There has been no news."

"Do you know where she went?"

"We know where she was supposed to go. But after a few days of no news, we sent someone to check the location out." Sekki sighed as he remembered what happened. It was as though there had been nothing out of the ordinary for the last one month; no one trying to break in, not even new captives – nothing. Given the state of things, there had been hardly anything he could do besides attempt to pick up new information by eavesdropping. Shoukei had done most of the footwork by using her womanly charms. He too had not seen even the back of Shoukei after they had separated to find her majesty.

Shouryu mused on what little information Sekki had provided. It seemed that the fastest way to find out anything was through the tiger's mouth. He leapt onto Tama's back.

"Let's go."

"Where to?"

"Through the tiger's mouth," he chuckled.

* * *

Rankei flipped into the courtyard. The moon was high but blanketed by thick clouds. His footsteps made no sound as he crossed the courtyard. Trained in the arts of stealth by Gyousou, it was hardly surprising that no one noticed his presence until he placed his hand onto the lady's small shoulder. She looked back in shocked, her face relaxing with relief upon the sight of him. She had expected him though not so early and not unnoticed. He gazed at her intently, waiting for what she had summoned him for.

The room was dark and unlit. There was no one but her in the room. Though the seat beside her was empty and clearly put out meant for him, Rankei chose to stand. It would be easier to hide or escape should his presence be noticed.

Perhaps she was used to his preferences for she did not seem to ask him to.

"We are 5,000 short," he finally said.

"I know."

He looked at her with a questioning look at her reply.

"We can leave it. 5000 won't be that big a difference. More importantly, she has already begun to move." She sighed.

"So what's the next plan? If her majesty's starting to move, then we cannot afford to dally."

She passed him a tiny scroll that she had hidden in her hoh. "Give Boshi this and assist him."

Rankei nodded. Taking the scroll, he leapt out of the window and disappeared into the night.

* * *

"Just so you know, you're supposed to be my younger brother, Akayu and I'm Endori," Shouryu whispered.

Sekki had not really believed the rumours about En-Ou until today. Shouryu had brazenly walked into the servant's courtyard asking for a job. He begged for steward to allow his brother and him to stay and work and without even blinking an eye, he had came up with a sad story on how they had lost everything. No land, no possession, the only way they had to survive was to find a job. However there were not many shops that would take two siblings without any experience or any recommendations, so they had come to the great Minister Aoya's house to beg for a job after hearing how great and benevolent he was.

Sekki had not really expected the steward to buy the story, but maybe there was something in En-Ou's tone that made people want to believe him. So here they were.

There had been one point of time where he had shovelled waste out of the kijyuu stables but he never expected that he would be doing it beside a king. Sekki cast a dubious glance at Shouryu. The king of En strolled down the stables, whistling as he shovelled the waste into the buckets for Sekki to remove. He looked like he was born into this rather than being a king for over five hundred years.

"Endori!"

Shouryu turned to the direction of the voice. He saw the steward beckoning him.

"Yes sir?" he bowed.

"We're a little short on cleaning crew for the basements so you'll have to follow them." The steward pointed and left. To the right of the courtyard was a mangy group of servants. None of them looked pleased to be assigned as the basement cleaners, in fact most looked rather apprehensive.

"Is there a reason why everyone looks so scared?" Shouryu leaned in to the man nearest to him. The man looked at him startled.

"Oh. You're that siblings."

Shouryu nodded and looked expectantly at the man. He seemed like a chatty sort of man.

"Well-" the man started, casting a furtive glance at the others. "They say there's a ghost in the cellar."

"A ghost?"

The man nodded and continued. "At night, the guards say you can hear it moaning. I don't know how true it is, but they say no matter how many times they search for the sound, they cannot find it."

_Could it be Yoko?_

A small hope lit in Shouryu's chest. He had planned to go to another minister's house if they still could not find anything about her. Knowing she was there but probably injured was better than no news.

* * *

Rankei tapped on the large wooden gate.

"Winter swallows fly into the sky."

"They will land when summer is right," Rankei replied.

The gate opened a cracked and Rankei slipped in. A greying man stood before him. His eyes were thin to the point of almost being hidden.

"Boshi," he nodded at the old man as he passed him the scroll.

"What's this?"

Rankei shrugged. "Only told to assist you."

Boshi stared at him with pursed lips. "We're going to bring the army."

"So it's beginning," Rankei said with an indecipherable smile on his face.

"Go to Hokyuu and rouse them. I will go to Bakushou," Boshi turned and left.

Outside, the lonesome silvery orb hung heavily in the dusky sky. The smell of incoming rain and the end of autumn hovered in the air. Rankei paused to ponder on his reasons and her reasons for doing this.

_Was there no better way?_

Soon, there will be the smell of blood in the air. He could feel a chill run down his spine as he thought of it. Whether it was from fear or anticipation, Rankei could not tell.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

She perused through the various records. The armies were ready and they were lead by the best possible. Everything had fallen in place as she had planned, except for her majesty. Her majesty should have taken the bait and rode out or at least sent out one of her generals, but she had not done anything. Somehow she had this nagging feeling that there was more than just her majesty that was wrong with her plan.

The candle dimmed as it begun to splutter out. She had not noticed the time passing. It was almost time for him to come. There was the slightest footfalls behind the curtains. Looking up, her purple eyes met into the brown eyes of Rankei.

"Hello Keikei."

He grunted unhappily at that name. "You know only her majesty is allowed to call me that."

She smiled. "I brought you up as well. Am I not allowed as well?"

"We had this conversation before," he said, sliding into the chair opposite her. "Why did you call me back anyway? I thought you wanted me to lead the armies?"

"Well we have a problem. Yoko is not moving and I have no idea why. I need you to find her and tell her that there is an army of 50,000 people sitting on her doorstep."

"I thought we had more than that-"

She waved him off. "Just go."

"Yes yes, my lady." He bowed and was off.

* * *

Shoryu took a while to get adjusted to the dim lighting. The numerous torches that they carried failed to properly illuminate the basement. There was an eerie feeling in the basement. There might have been really nothing in the basement after all, except the over-active imaginations of the ones working here. He would be hardly surprised if that was the truth. He was, however, not going to discount the fact that there may actually be something. Like they say, where there's smoke, there's fire.

Quietly without anyone realizing, Shoryu had managed to leave the tightly clustered group. The rest of the dungeons were dank and dark. He had no idea why basements were so bad in a minister's house in Kei none the less. Mentally, he noted to bring it up to Yoko when he finally found her. That is, unless she is really here and if she was, she would definitely already know how bad the dungeons were in her kingdom.

The hallway seemed to stretch out endlessly. There was no way of telling how long it truly was with the light huddling close to its source. It almost seemed that the darkness was eating away at the light. He must have walked for hours and was about to give up when he heard the soft clank of chains and the almost inaudible moan. He could not really understand at its first call but as he moved closer to it and paid more attention to it, it seemed that his universal immortal translator had kicked in. All it said was two words.

_Save me._

He inched forward, his hand trailing the rough granite walls. Heart pounding, fearful of what he would find he came into view of the cell. Shoryu breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the figure had dark grey hair and was a man, gaunt and haggard. He was considerably clean and quite unlike what Shoryu's imagination had conjured up. The man stood abruptly causing his chains to clang.

"Who are you?" Shoryu asked futilely for upon asking, the man opened his mouth to show the stump of where his tongue had been.

_Why was there a prisoner so deep in the dungeons?_

Before Shoryu could turn to look at the other cells, the man grabbed onto his sleeve, moaning and shaking the bars.

_Save me._

He was not very sure if the man was truly convicted for something heinous. The man moaned again as though knowing what went through Shoryu's mind.

_Save me and I'll tell you everything._

Shoryu looked thoughtfully at the man. In the light of the lack of any information, something might be better than nothing. His hard brown eyes catching the gaze of the man.

"What do you know that can benefit me?"

The man smiled or smirked, Shoryu could not quite tell.

_I know you are looking for Sekishi and you'll never get her unless you save me._

* * *

The air was dank. The weak autumn light wheezed through the small high up window though it could not quite reach the bottom of the cellar. Much of the cell was left in the dim darkness and the piercing cold. The small rats nearby did not dare to stray to him though he sat there so still that he could have almost been mistaken for a statue. He could see small puffs of mist as he breathed. Maybe it was because the cell was located further down. Small and narrow but with a high ceiling, Keiki could almost imagine that the cell was several feet below ground. The shackles on his limbs weighed him down, but it was not the physical weight of it that bound it. Rather it was the inscriptions on it that bound him down. His hand unconsciously moved to where his horn would have been in his beast form.

The small red stone that bound him gave him a peculiar feeling. There was a lack of power and try as he might, he could not even summon a single shirei. He sighed. There was still him. Perhaps he might just be able to summon one. Leaning forward, he eagerly moved to inspect the motionless body in front of him. There was no sign of life. Not yet at least. The body was clearly breathing, slow, shallow and seemingly painful breaths.

_Wake up soon._

Keiki brushed the boy's stray hair from his face. The fate of two nations may fall squarely on their shoulders. He pursed his lips as he gazed down at the young boy. Her majesty had been right, though he had gone about a roundabout way to defy her orders; his current position certainly had placed her in a much more perilous position.

_I must apologize to her when I see her. She must be furious now. I promised to always trust her in spite of that I still did not trust her enough._

The boy's eyes fluttered open. His green eyes roaming his surroundings as they slowly adjusted to the dim light.

"Are you awake?" came the stoic voice from his left.

He tilted his head to see Keiki in shackles. "Keiki?" He raised a heavy arm to his forehead. It was the strange bead tied to his head: a mirror of Keiki's. "Who? What?"

He tried to think on how he got here but all he drew was a blank.

"Enki, can you call your shirei?"

He shook his head.

"It's that bead again," Enki muttered. "What the hell is wrong with your country? Don't they know it's against the heaven's mandate to take another country's kirin?"

Keiki stared down at his wrists, utterly silent. He was now not only endangering his master but the fate of another country. Enki sighed.

His master would come for him. Enki knew of that without a slightest uncertainty.

* * *

"There is an ARMY out there, General! Why are we not moving?" they demanded. When they heard that Sekishi had joined the rebels in order to regain control of her country, their respect for her as a warrior queen rose tremendously. She was a queen unafraid to bleed for the throne and knew exactly what it meant to have the throne. Yet here with more than 50,000 people practically sitting outside in the province of Bu for everyone to see that they were clearly a rebel army, the queen that they respected seemed to sit on her thumbs. Had the rule of twenty years softened her warrior edge? During the short twenty years, she had become the queen of many firsts: the queen to begin establishing some sort of "international" assistance, assisting Tai-ou to regain his country, etc. They refused to believe that she had been softened. It was just the wait while an enemy army sat just right outside was so maddening.

Kantai took a step back from the angry mob. He too was frustrated. Without orders, he would simply be taking advantage of Yoko's absence. Yoko's last orders were to prepare the army. Now it seemed that she had done it too hastily. The soldiers were anxious to get on the way, maybe the term thirsty for blood would have been a better fit than anxious.

"Silence!" Kantai's voice rang clear and sharp.

It was not the time to be filled with doubts about his queen. He shook his head and said, "I have no idea what the Queen is thinking, but I'm certain that there is a reason why she has not sent us out. She is the queen who joined the rebels to weed out the corrupt. She is the queen who led the armies to take down the rebel minister of law. Is there really a need to doubt her? No. All she asks is that we prepare to set out when she calls for us. So prepare. I want to see all of you stripped down in sweat from training by the end of today."

He turned and headed towards the inner palace. Keiki would know better what she was thinking.

Koshou saw Kantai approaching from a distance. The only people he had seen all week had been Enho and Koukan.

"Kantai-"

"Koshou. I need to see Kei taiho."

"He is not here. He has not been for the whole of this week."

Kantai looked confused. "Where did he go?"

"I believe he went to find her majesty."

"For a whole week? Did he not leave word?"

"Well-" Koshou started. "About that. He said he was not going to _fetch_ her majesty but rather _assist_ her. He told me to use those words specifically."

Kantai stifled an inaudible groan at the realization of Koshou's words. "He somehow defied her order." Now Kantai knew without a doubt that there was something had gone wrong.

* * *

"En- Elder brother-?" Sekki looked up. His eyes widened at the large wrapped package across Shoryu's shoulder. He had stayed up all night to wait for Shoryu after he heard from the cleaning crew that Shoryu had gone missing.

"Quickly," Shoryu said, wasting no time for explanations, he threw a cloak at Sekki and hopped out of the window that he came from. Tama was waiting for them at the shadowy corner of the courtyard.

"Is that-" Sekki's words were cut off when he was forced to clench his teeth as Tama sped into the air. They raced through the air at a furious rate as though someone was chasing them. Sekki looked back cautiously to check if they were indeed being pursued. The sky was empty.

It was only when the sun had begun to rise that Shoryu finally slowed their pace and stopped at a small village. The large package was left on the back of Tama as they walked slowly into the village. Shoryu greeted them with a large smile. Even with his cheerful attitude, Sekki would tell he was exhausted. His acting was half-hearted at best and dark lines circled his eyes on his ageless face.

"-just a place to rest and some food." Managing to catch the last bit of the conversation, Sekki returned his attention to at hand. Shoryu motioned to Sekki for some relevance to their conversation as he passed the village elder a small sum of money. It was not very much, but probably much more than what the villagers would see after working for a year. "We would just like some privacy. We travelled all the way from Sei province to be in time for our sister's wedding." Shoryu chatted away with the village elder as the village elder showed them to their rooms.

_This man is a natural._

It was good that this man was currently their ally. There was no telling how long it would have taken him to source for information the way Shoryu was doing.

"Oh, I heard it's really peaceful in Bu Province. I'm glad my sister is marrying that man after all," Shoryu chuckled.

The village elder face stilled at his words. "I don't think it's that peaceful," he muttered.

"Wha-"

"Here's your room." The village elder ushered them into a decently sized room. Pulling the futons out, he hastily backed out. "Someone will bring you food when you wake. There is water by the well."

And the man was gone. "That was quick," Sekki could not help but comment.

"Agreed."

Shoryu turned to the package. He pulled the cloth off to unravel a man. The man was so thin and emaciated that it didn't seem logically possible on how he was still alive.

"I have kept my promise now tell us what you know."

Sekki glanced at Shoryu in surprise. He had somehow guessed that must have been what it was. He turned back at the man. There was something oddly familiar about him but he could not put his finger on it. The man made some guttural moans as though saying something.

"En-" Shoryu quickly clamped his mouth before Sekki could get the last syllable out. He quickly knocked the man out before turning to Sekki.

"Yoko has been taken to the big castle but it seems that they had given her something to drink or eat. I'm not sure if we can get her out in time."

"You understood him?"

Shoryu nodded. "We don't have much time left. There is an army readying to march on the edge of Bu province. My guess is that they were trying to draw Yoko out and sending in the real army to attack the Kinpa palace. Looks like something went wrong."

Sekki blinked.

But he went on. "This has become a full-fledged rebellion. What's stranger is that neither Keiki nor Daishiba has moved. Did Yoko give them some orders? We can assume that she has but was not able to carry it all the way due to unexpected circumstances."

Shoryu turned to Sekki. His face was impassive and empty of emotions. "Would you rather go and save her or summon the Daishiba and kirin? We do not have the manpower nor the resources to do both. You can only pick one."

He hesitated. There would be no kingdom without the queen, no queen without a kingdom. "Save her majesty." Sekki heard himself finally saying in a thin voice.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Author's Note:** Yes it was a long break, sorry about it. We're now entering the closing of the story. :) Enjoy.

* * *

More than the eye could see, Kantai could see the rows and rows of soldiers lined just within the borders Bu Province. There was the buzz of fear and alarm in the capital city, people running to the outskirts, people staying in their houses. In Gyouten, it almost appeared to be a ghost town. Those that had guts had sought out the land ministries to sign up for conscription, those that did not had shut themselves in.

"What do you want us to do, sir?"

Kantai glanced back to the speaker. The speaker was Gaishin who looked at him with an anxious look. They both were soldiers who had been through rebellions. They knew that this situation was anything but good. The queen was missing, the kirin was missing and nothing could move the king's army but the queen. Kantai sighed and rubbed his temples. Where was Kei-Ou?

"Daishiba-" the voice called out though was quickly interrupted. Rankei pushed the man aside.

"Kantai! Where is Kei-ou?" he demanded. Pointing to the direction of Bu Province, Rankei said, "There must be over 50,000 people out there and they're clearly going to attack. Why aren't you doing anything?"

"Where are your manners, Rankei?" Gaishin gazed at him. Raneki caught himself just as he was about to apologize.

"I'm not her subject so it does not make me your subordinate nor your superior. Well? Why aren't you going to do anything? If you can't move the king's army, surely you can move the provincial army!"

Gaishin scoffed at the young boy. "Didn't you know that if he moved the army, the palace would be open to attacks? I'm sure you know that at least."

"It won't matter. There's the king's army. The very least that they can do without the queen's permission is to defend the palace. Isn't that its whole purpose to begin with?"

Kantai clapped his hands onto their backs before either could reply. "Good ideas. We'll use both!" He walked off laughing. "Call my generals, Toshin."

The young soldier that Rankei had pushed aside, bowed and quickly headed towards the barracks.

"He's not serious, is he?" Gaishin and Rankei turned to stare at each other with a dumbfounded look.

* * *

"Shoukei," Sekki called out as he entered the room. He had not seen her before he was whisked away by En-Ou and even before that, she had left to find Kei-Ou.

Shoukei was sitting by the window when he entered. The three men that had followed Jinhaku was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they were out looking for Jinhaku as well, Sekki could not be very certain. She looked well though tired. Circles rimmed her purple eyes, her eyebrows arching into disbelief as she saw the figure standing behind him. Quickly, she got up and bowed.

"What has brought you here?" she asked politely. Has Yoko disappearance been known to so many people?

"The smell of salt in the air and the void seas," Shouryu chuckled. "Well-" he heaved himself onto the other chair, wincing as he did. It had been awhile since he sat in a medium grade inn. The chairs were hard but sturdy – typical of a medium class inn. "Did you find anything?" he continued after his momentarily pause.

She shook her head.

"We have received information that she is at the castle in Bakushou. We are heading there; pick her up and go back to summon the king's army. Do you know what the situation is there now? Do you have any idea why they are doing this?" Shouryu had brooded over it and could not quite find a plausible answer. "Yoko's rule has been relatively stable despite the few rebellions. There does not seem to be any dissatisfaction here."

Shoukei paused, choosing her words carefully before speaking. "There is a 50,000 strong army on the edge of province. Roughly half of them are air cavalry. Most of them are soldiers employed by the ministers of Bu Province. Previously, Bu Province was a popular place to invest with among the ministers. Now that the other provinces are doing better, they have moved away from Bu Province and into Baku Province. They believe that since her majesty prefers Baku Province people, it'd hold through for the province. Since then, the Baku Province has improved greatly."

"I see. That would make sense in an odd way."

Shouryu stood up. Turning to Sekki, he said. "Let's be on our way then. We can't waste anymore time."

"Then I'm coming with you." Shoukei jerked her chin out defiantly, glaring at the two men.

"Shoukei-" Sekki started.

"Stop." She rose her hand to stop Sekki. "I will go. There is nothing you can say to dissuade me."

The two men sighed. The sound of resignation echoing in his voice, Shouryu said, "It'd be dangerous. Yoko will kill me."

She smiled softly, her eyes taking on a gazed look as though recalling something. "Not before she kills me."

"Well do you have a kijyuu?"

Nodding, Shoukei pointed at the stables. "She left her kijyuu behind."

* * *

Rokuta paced the cell. The cell not much of a cell to be honest. It was dark and dank, yes. However it was filled with relative comforts, apart from the rats. The beds provided for them looked out of place after Rokuta had angrily yelled at the guards.

He was worried for his kingdom. Rokuta could not comprehend how they would take another kingdom's krin. Regardless whether they released him only, he admitted privately that he could not leave Keiki behind. Rokuta turned to look at Keiki.

Keiki had not moved much from his spot, choosing to sit cross legged in the corner as though meditating. Though he looked peaceful, Rokuta could see the dark lines that rimmed his closed eyes. He probably mirrored Keiki for much of the nights had been sleepless. Rokuta slumped beside the tall kirin, a sigh escaping his lips as he leaned onto the cold wall.

"Keiki," he said.

"Yes."

"Do you think we'll ever get out?"

"Yes."

"What makes you think so?"

Keiki sighed, opening his violet eyes to look at the short kirin. "Her majesty is not so weak to lose to them and neither is your king."

Rokuta grunted in agreement with his statement except he could not help but think that they had been here for so long, almost a month if he counted right. "Hey Keiki," he grabbed the kirin's arm excitedly. "I just thought of this."

Jabbing at the red thread that looped around their heads, Rokuta continued excitedly, "If we broke the red threads at the same time, we should be fine. If one of us isn't, then we can order our shirei to carry the other. Brilliant right!?"

Keiki's eyes slid to someone behind Rokuta. A man that barely looked like a man stood outside the cell. He smiled amusedly, "It might work. Except the young girl that has her head bound with the same thread would not be. I'm sure you won't want to risk a poor, _innocent_ life, now would you?" His smile barely reached his grey eyes as he spoke. He was neither muscular or slight but he held an air about him that Keiki knew he was telling nothing but the truth and would not hesitate to follow through with his words.

"Who are you?" Keiki demanded. "How dare you withhold the holy kirin of Kei?"

"I am nobody." The man chuckled. "My sweet Keiki. Don't worry. Your dear queen knows you two are here."

Keiki frowned at his words; but before he could speak Rokuta had rushed to the man, reaching for him, shouting. "What do you mean by that!? Why would she do nothing if she knew we were here!?"

The man moved back, Rokuta's arms just brushing his hoh as he did. He flung his head back and laughed. "You'll see. Till then," he smiled. This time, his eyes filled with mirth. "Enjoy your stay."

The two kirins watch the man's back, listening to his footsteps echo into silence.

"I think we are in so much trouble," said Enki. "Sooo much trouble."

* * *

The maids roused her just before dawn. Quickly without even needing her to move a finger, they bathed her and dressed her. The large, heavy headpiece weighed her head down. Yoko felt like she became stupid whenever she wore that headpiece. It was like she could barely put coherent sentences together when she wore the headpiece, so she sat there in the chair that the maids had set her on and watched the sun rise and set.

* * *

Just outside Bu Province, Rankei enjoying a short peaceful moment before the others woke. They had been on a back-breaking pace to reach Bu Province and they had just fallen asleep roughly a few hours ago. The small bird fluttered down onto Rankei, pecking his ear. There was a small slip of paper tied around its leg. All the paper said was, "Be there blue palace, now."

He got up, shaking Kantai he said, "I have to go. My mistress calls me."

"Wah?" Kantai sat up, eyes still heavy from sleep. "Where are you going?"

"To my mistress," he swung onto the saddle of his kijyuu and leapt into the air.

* * *

It was almost dusk when they reached the castle. The dying sunlight bathed the castle with its red glow, making it glow with a brilliance. Shouryu nodded to the two of them. During their trip, they had decided that splitting into two groups would be better. Shoukei with Shouryu would check the rooms while Sekki would check the grounds and the basements. Sekki nodded and scampered off as they entered the area.

"Shoukei," Shouryu called out as they entered. "Do you think-"

A man hurried to Shoukei. "Lady Shoukei! We were not informed of your arrival!" He turned to the two standing behind him. "Hurry up!"

"Nice to mean you, Lady Shoukei!" They bowed deeply. "Please follow us! Lord Aoya is waiting for you."

Wordlessly the duo followed the servants into a large and well decorated hall. Another man hurried in. He wore expensive and layered hoh that indicated his rank. "Lady Shoukei." He bowed as deeply as Yoko's edict would allow. "It is good for your gracious to grace these bare halls of mine. Your beauty is as radiant as ever." The man that spoke was plump with a receding hairline.

Shoukei waved her hand dismissively. "Enough of the flowery talk, Minister Aoya." She sat down in the main chair, an air of authority as she gazed at the man.

"We captured a man-" Minster Aoya motioned to his servants. The man they had captured was Sekki. Shoukei was hardly surprised. Sekki had never been much of a military man and such skills like sneaking in were largely lost on him. "Would you like us to do the same treatment as we did for the last few?"

"Just release-" she paused as the words sank in. "Last few?" she whipped around, a fierce look taking over. "What last few-?"

"Well-" the man fell onto the ground in his haste to beg for forgiveness. "Jinhaku- He-"

"Where is he?" Her voice now rising in level as her patience wore thin.

"Here."They spun around to see the slight build man at the entrance. He was not as scary as Sekki had described to him though there was a mild resemblance in his demeanor.

"Hello, Lady Shoukei." He smiled but there was no warmth in his smile. "I have a present for you. Something better to make up for the missing toukis. A living, breathing doll." He pulled from behind the door. Yoko stood there wordlessly, gazed blankly at nothing in particular.

"Isn't it fantastic?" He chuckled. "Now we don't even need to fight with the royal army. We can just waltz in with the grace of the queen." He stroked Yoko's face.

"She listens to every word I say too. Here, look at this." He pointed to the chair on his left. "Sit."

Shoukei and Shouryu watched appalled as Yoko obediently walked to pointed chair and sat down in it. Yoko would hated the ceremonial headpiece had often complained about it, now wore not just a portion of it but the full ceremonial headpiece without complain, without fidgeting. Her hands folded onto her lap, her head held high. It was a model representation of a noble queen, something Yoko had not once done since her enthronement.

"What have you done?" Shouryu broke the silence that fell upon them.

Jinhaku threw his head back and laughed. "Why don't you ask the girl that stands beside you? She's the mastermind. I only carried it out." He patted Yoko's hair, gazing at her lovingly. "The will of heaven sits here and she listens to me only."

He bent down and whispered to Yoko.

"Guards, throw them into prison." Yoko said; her voice devoid of any emotion though her body went through the motions.

"Yoko!" Shoukei screamed, trying to push the guards that came to apprehend them. "Yoko!"

Shouryu had drawn his sword and had slain two of the guards. "Wake up, Yoko! If you throw me into prison, you'll be breaking the heaven's mandate. I am En-ou!"

The man called Jinhaku stared Shouryu thoughtfully. "That is true. If she dies, my rule will die faster than it even started. Leave him, but capture the other two."

Shouryu pulled Shoukei towards him but was restrained by another three more guards. "En-ou!" Shoukei turned to look at him as they pushed her out of the room.

"Save the queen! En-ou!" And they were gone.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

A/N: Losing my hdd hurt and I found it hard to reconnect to the story as this chapter had been half written. It's rather different from the first time I wrote it and it seems that the plot had somewhat changed from my first draft. My writing style seems to have changed yet again. I hope that would not be an issue in enjoying the story even though this is a slow and short chapter.

* * *

Yoko sat motionlessly in the growingly dark room. There was some discomfort in her heart but for what, she could not really determine. The days she had passed were hazy and she knew that there was something wrong, but Yoko found herself barely able to concentrate to figure what or why. Was it the heavy headdress? She tried to reach up to remove it and found herself unable to. All she could was to sit there motionlessly.

'_Why?_' She asked herself.

But as she asked herself that question, she began to forget what her question was. Yoko struggled to recall what she had been doing before she came here. It was night when she arrived at the building. It had been as though they had expected her. The door burst opened, breaking her thoughts and strode in was Jinhaku with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

_Jinhaku!_

"That was marvelous!" He spun around happily, still full of excitement from the day's events. Outside, Yoko could hear joyous merrymaking as the door swung closed. "Look at me," he said.

Yoko found she could not resist his command. "My little heaven's will." He smiled. "Don't worry, you won't need to think of anything." He patted her face with a smug smile on his face.

_Heaven's will?_

The door swung open, the sounds of the singing could be heard again. "Jin! They're calling for you! Come on!"

"Oh yes!" he turned around. With Yoko in the listening to his every command, there was no need to worry whether she would try to escape. How will want escape if she could not even resist the sound of his voice literally. "Ready yourself for bed, tomorrow we'll have a big big day!" He commanded as he shut the door.

There was the faintest sigh of relief to be out of his presence. Yoko will have to find a way to resist him soon or her kingdom will crumble. Unable to resist the maids or his command, Yoko sat there while they undressed her and tucked her into bed.

_Not yet._

She had to sleep now. He commanded it so. Maybe it was the sight of Shouryu or Shoukei and for the brief moment she was able to whisper. "Tell Shouryu."

* * *

Shoukei would not go quietly. As the guards dragged her into the dungeons, she screamed, kicking, biting. Behind her quietly following was Sekki. Head dipped forward, he had resigned himself to being caught and jailed the day Yoko had send him the letter. He had just finished his finals for his grade in Daigaku and found the letter stamped with a turquoise wax. Guessing who it was not difficult for those who knew her majesty personally, a sense of alarm and a slow creeping chill rose in him as he broke the seal.

He had worked through disabling ministers before they even knew her majesty had already turned to their actions. Together with the stealthy efforts of Rankei and him along with Yoko's unwavering trust in her inner circle, they had managed to put down many of the corrupt ministers with little suspicion. However they had least expected Shoukei to be the mastermind this time. Perhaps it was good that Yoko was not really herself. Even for Sekki who was not close to Shoukei, to find out the truth had shaken him. Or was there a clue that he had missed? Sekki reviewed the case again in his mind.

Her majesty had noticed an alarming amount of people carrying arms in Bu, out of which, she had determined more than half were tokis. The shirei reported that there were more tokis in the storage of a minister and with the assistance of Rou Hansei, they managed to plot several routes that moved the tokis. Rou then presented himself as one of the smugglers to infiltrate the route. That was when the actual amount of tokis became clearer. There were many suspects on who was the mastermind and without any better way, Sekki had infiltrated one of the main ministers. That was when things took for the worse.

Sekki sank cross-legged on the cold floor as the guards swung the metal door close. Tonight would be a cold and quiet night. Tomorrow that's when everything will go to hell.

Opposite him, he could still see Shoukei screaming and rattling the bars. Soon she would find out that it would be useless. His motionless body caught her attention.

"How can you just sit there? Aren't you worried?" Her voice was sharp and mildly hoarse from her screaming.

"Would screaming accomplish anything? Would worrying accomplish anything?" He turned from her, unwilling to see her. He would have to think about her position before he could decide anything.

* * *

Shouryu was forced to give up trying to stay in the castle. Everything had collapsed. He had come to Kei to track the strange movement of toki only to find out that there's some big conspiracy brewing in Kei. To stay would chance a possibility of breaking his heaven's mandate. Not to mention Yoko was not in any position to seek help from him. Where was Keiki? Shouldn't the kirin have known that his queen was in trouble? Shouryu sighed, wishing that he had not been so hardheaded in chasing Rokuta away and making him take his shirei away. How he wished that he had a shirei now.

The moon was high in the sky when he finally reached the tree that he had left Tama and that strange man he rescued. The man smirked at him.

"Did you find her?" the man asked with his throaty moans. He laughed with Shouryu decided not to reply. "She did not act the way you expected. Hehehe. I can tell you how to free her."

Shouryu whipped around to stare at the gaunt old man in shock. "But it comes with a price," the old man smiled.

"I suppose you were in this whole conspiracy right until they found someone better and decided to do off with you." Shouryu looked evenly into man's dark grey eyes. He had been wrong about that man the whole time. He was not an old man, not one bit. Perhaps forty with dark grey hair, perhaps with sunken eyes and an emaciated body, but he was not an old man. He looked like a man that had once been plump and overweight and suddenly put on an anorexic diet.

A flash of anger flicked in the man's eyes. He was used to getting his way and being in-charge and he must have found the new person in charge a threat to his comfort. Shouryu allowed himself to smile inwardly at the small revelation. That was why the man knew so much. "So I guess that you would have already have known that Shoukei, the small petite girl took over your glorious spot."

Press till it hurts and then he'll know where to start.

"That little girl came waltzing in with the grace of that silly empress. What will that silly taika empress know anything about ruling? I governed Kei for three empresses and not one of them was worth remembering." The man laughed.

"You're- Seikyou. Kei-ou mentioned you."

"I'm not surprised. I am the pillar that held the kingdom, right until that stupid girl decided to exile me." He burst out laughing. "Funny how a kingdom she helped the 'save'", he gestured with his fingers at that point, indicating his clear disdain for Yoko's heroics, "became an inspiration for us."

_Helped to save?_

Shouryu felt his blood run cold as he recognized what that meant. There was only one kingdom that Yoko had assisted in her short twenty years of reign.

_Tai._

The man oblivious to Shouryu's inner rage continued ranting about how great his rule had been. The man had been blind to his own faults and the suffering he had caused with the great corruption. Unable to accept facts even when Yoko had smashed his nose in, he had wondered how he had sat there for so long. The man had fallen silent upon realizing that his audience was no longer held captive by his great exploits.

"There is a way to bring her back." Seikyou's throaty voice broke into his thoughts. "I was the mastermind of the entire plan. I know its flaws too. If they're going to get rid of me, then I don't see why I can't sabotage them. It's a very small detail but hard to fulfill."

Seikyou pointed to his forehead. "A small detail."

* * *

Rankei flew in the darkness. The moon was high in the sky, but all he felt was the bleakness of the situation growing in him. She had never summoned him with such short notice or abrupt wording. Despite the short wording, he had managed to grasp the urgency, the fear that she did not mention. He knew that when they had embarked on this mission, there was a high chance that neither of them would survive. He understood the importance of the mission. Kei-ou was a smart lady, she would have noticed at some point or another. It was a gamble that they both took. The dark trees whizzed past him. Was he closer to the blue palace? By now, fueled by only the short nap he had managed to snatch after the long exhausting ride from Gyouten, Rankei wondered if he would even prove to be of any use.

It was a lurch as his kijyuu suddenly took a dive. Had he driven his mount too much? He didn't need to think hard for that answer. Even the most resilient mounts would have faltered.

"Not now-" he muttered, slapping the mount awake. "Land! LAND!"

The kijyuu mustering the last of its strength landed, tripping over its forepaws. Tumbling forward, Rankei tried to flip to an easy recovery position only to find he could not. He could feel the exhaustion deep in his bones as he rolled to a stop.

"Rankei-?"

He heard a man's incredulous voice as his conscious faded to darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Keiki, Keiki-" she shook him gently, her hand getting tangled in his silvery gold hair. "Oh sorry!"

Keiki sighed as he got up slowly, reaching to untangle his hair from her hands, his large hand enveloping her small cold hands as he tugged it from her ring. "Why are your hands so cold, your majesty?" He wrapped his hands over hers, blowing into them to warm them up.

"Keiki-" she turned away, her face faintly red.

"Are you having a fever? Your face is red." He reached over to check her temperature. "I'll summon the imperial doctor."

"No- it's fine." She grabbed his hoh as he leapt from the bed to summon the maids. "Look-"

Yoko pointed at the window. The sun had barely risen. Much of the sky was still in darkness, save for the streak of red that looked like a phoenix. Thick flakes of snow fell silently into the garden. He frowned as he stared out of the window.

"I do not see what I'm supposed to see."

She sighed. "It's snowing!"

"I see that. It is not rare for it to snow in mid-winter for Kei. I believe we are well-prepared for possible snow. Does your majesty foresee any issues?"

She sighed again. She seemed to be sighing quite often of the late. "Isn't it pretty? It's the first snow of the year."

"I… see-" he said, puzzled over her excitement over snow.

She heaved a large sigh, disgruntled at his lack of reaction. He would not remember, but it was snowing on the day that she finally reclaimed the throne. She watched it snow from her blood-stained throne and saw Keiki watching her.

"It's fine." She waved his apology away. "I declare a snow day for every province's first day of snow of the season. That's all." She turned and left.

"Your majesty, what's a snow day?"

"It's a day where everything gets cancelled. People get to stay at home and not need to go to work or school today."

She smiled at him. A gentle smile, untainted by any of the sadness that she seemed to carry around lately. Nevertheless, it was one of her rare smiles and Keiki treasured it.

"Keiki," a pair of small hands shook him awake. A memory. It must be the lack of power that made him sleep more. Keiki shook his head, trying to clear the sleep from his head. That was when he heard the screaming and then when it died, all that echoed was the quiet sobbing.

"That's the royal scribe, Shoukei. What is she doing here?" Keiki could not make out what the male voice replied her but they must have both been here to save Yoko. Her majesty must be in this very building. A sense of hope and despair filled his body. If her majesty had been here the whole time, then why had he not sensed her? Not to mention that if what the man had said was right and her majesty did know about En Taiho and him here, why had she not come for them? Keiki struggled with the fear that rose in him as he thought about it. He had half risen when Rokuta grabbed him.

"Wait," Rokuta said. "She was screaming for En-ou, that means Shouryu is here."

Keiki looked at the small kirin. He had forgotten that Rokuta had been jailed with him. "Based on their conversation, I do not believe that they know we are here," his voice rapidly regaining the composure that he was famous for. It would not be good for anyone was to see a kirin panicking. Kirins were the embodiment of the heaven's will. They should always be calm and poised. That was what Keiki was taught.

Rokuta frowned at Keiki's statement. "I had the theory that they were using us as blackmail, but now I don't think that we are even in the picture. I mean. That girl, she said save the queen. That means there's something wrong with Yoko. Are we insurance?"

"Insurance?"

Rokuta turned to the bars, gripping them, he hollered as loudly as he could, "HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

* * *

Shouryu covered the boy with his cloak. He knew Rankei from going in and out of Kinpa palace. Yoko had spoken to him about Rankei. She had mentioned him in the passing on how he was going through a rebellious phase, but Shouryu last expected Rankei to fall from the sky in the middle of the night. Not to mention that there was a high chance of war back at the Gyouten. Rankei was a highly intelligent boy. He knew that from Tai-ou and Yoko. He would have made his way back to the palace if he was not already there in this kind of situation.

"You didn't have to literally drop help from the sky," he muttered.

Shouryu grunted with irritation. Yet again it felt like the heaven was leading him round in circles; it had been a total coincidence that he had noticed the unusual amount of tokis that were leaving his kingdom. Shouryu had not been able to mention it because mentioning where he got his source from meant that he would have to tell someone that he had been sweeping some floor in a ratty casino in his own country. Hakutaku, or rather none of his ministers were going to give him a break once they did. Instead he decided that he would monitor it personally and find out what was going on. Once he had found out about Yoko leaving the palace to go to Bu Province, he knew he had to come. Someone was taking it out from his country to Kei. Who knows what else the person or organization could do. Now at a loss on what his next move was, heaven decided to move another chess piece. He would not ignore it or rather, Shouryu could not ignore it. After meeting Kouya and hearing the story about Kouya and Rokuta, Shouryu solemnly swore never to ignore obvious direction.

'_In that case, Seikyou must be another chess piece. A small detail huh.'_ He furrowed his eyebrows. He could try to enter the building again and have Rankei break in to kidnap Yoko. That seemed like the only plan he had. Shouryu was starting to feeling the weariness beat down on him. Even kings could be tired. He looked up, taking in the wide expanse of dark sky above him.

"En-ou," came a deep voice from beneath his feet.

Startled, he took an involuntary step back. Shouryu had resigned himself to completing the impossible task of saving Yoko by himself before Heaven decided to drop Rankei onto him and now a shirei? Clearly Heaven believed he needed a lot of help. The question of whether he should waste three days on going to Mt Hou and asking if he was within his heaven's mandate to assist Yoko flickered through his mind. With things the way they are now, Shouryu wasn't sure if he had the luxury of wasting three days. This situation felt awfully familiar. Was it when that Kou-ou tried to kill Yoko? Where was Rokuta when he needed him? His pesky kirin always appeared at inappropriate times but rarely the times he needed the kirin. Shouryu bit back another unhappy mutter as he turned back to the shirei. Rokuta's shirei always called him '_your majesty_' so clearly this was not Rokuta's. Plus Shouryu didn't recognize the voice, definitely not Rokuta's.

"Who are you?"

"I am Hankyo, Kei taiho's shirei. I've come bearing a message from her majesty."

"A message?" Shouryu could scarcely believe his ears. Upon seeing the state of Yoko when she left with that Jinhaku, Shouryu did not believe that she was capable of doing anything beyond that crazy man's commands. There was hope! A fire sang in his heart as he began making plans around that idea. "What message is it?" Shouryu asked, almost laughing in glee.

"I am to tell you what happened."

_What would telling me help her?_

"Following a lead, her majesty entered the building to save the man called Jinhaku. There many of the ministers recognized her and she was led into staying in the building while trying to find the man. However it seemed that something she ate or drank had robbed her of her ability react. The man, Jinhaku entered the room and placed a red string around her forehead and sealed it with a bead. From that moment onwards, her majesty had stopped responding to us. Due to her majesty's orders that unless she was in immediate danger, we are not allowed to interfere; we have not been able to do anything." A tone sounding awfully like guilt crept into the cold shirei's voice.

"Is it possible for you to remove the red string?"

"No. Her orders forbid us from assisting her unless she is in immediate danger."

If it's the red string with the bead, it must be the same one that Kouya had placed around Rokuta's head. Shouryu was told about it much after the rebellion in Gen Province. Chances is that it was placed around someone else's head. The possibility of killing someone by removing it was there.

"Would you be able to show me the way to her room?"

"Yes."

That was a start.

* * *

"STOP! THE QUEEN WILL SEE NO ONE," Koshou hollered. He pushed back the minister, pulling his large spear into an aggressive stance. With the tension rising, more and more ministers were beginning to disregard the fact that they were not even supposed to be in the inner palace. They were becoming quite adamant on seeing the queen in fact that some resorted to trying to sneak in through her window. The other three retainers shifted uneasily. Koshou could not fault them for being nervous as well and unlike the milling ministers in front of him, they knew that the queen was not there.

"The queen is currently conferring with Daishiba and Sankou. I understand your anxiety, but you better get the hell out of here before the queen sees you and throws you into jail." Jerking a thumb to the minister that he had pushed back, he said to the soldier beside him, "send him to jail for a day and make him remember that NONE OF YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE INNER PALACE."

Koshou's loud voice carried through the inner palace. The ministers quickly scrambled out of the inner palace and for now, gardens were silent again.

"Very good, Daiboku," Enho said.

Koshou turned and bowed as deeply as Yoko's edict allowed him to. "Taishi."

"Don't worry about it. There weren't many options to choose from. I don't think they'll be back soon, though if her majesty does not return soon, I believe they will find out the truth."

"Is there anything specific you would like me to say when that comes?"

"Perhaps something along the lines that her majesty has left to talk to the rebellion leader. Yes, that would be good."

"Affirmative."

* * *

Rankei suppressed the urge to shout in frustration at their slow pace through the dark corridors. It was essential and Rankei could not fault En-ou for being careful.

"This way," the voice from the shadows said quietly as they came to a crossroad. Rankei had been in this building many times as it was one of the primary meeting spots for her and many other ministers. He was not proud to be one of the rebellion leaders though En-ou and Yoko did not know yet, he knew he'd get more than another of Yoko's lectures for doing such a thing. He dreaded it, but he hoped that at least he would have been able to accomplish what he had set out to do.

The corridor was so silent that Rankei could hear the leather in his shoes creak. Judging by the number of people in the banquet hall and the almost empty halls, even the guards must be down there celebrating.

'_Celebrating the easy victory they're going to have._' Rankei thought as a chill ran down his spine. He shuddered at the horror of what was going horribly wrong. '_I still can fix this,' _he paused at that thought before adding belatedly, '_I hope.._'

Hankyo rose and stood outside a door. Despite the blank face that he held, the shirei gave an impression of impatience as he watched them walked towards the door. Shouryu drew his sword as he burst into the room.

It was empty.

Shouryu had expected it to be empty. Not because the guards were downstairs drinking gaily, but because he had expected that the shirei had taken anyone who could pose a threat down for them. Yoko lay on the bed, fast asleep. That surprised him a little. Yoko had always been an insomniac for the last two decades he had known her.

"Yoko!" he whispered furiously, shaking her. She did not even rouse.

_A small detail._

Shouryu carried her to the window where the thin silver moon shone into the room. She was so light, lighter than he remembered her to be, not that he carried her many times.

"Why did they leave so many hairpieces on when she's going to sleep?" he muttered. '_Is it the red thread?_'

He hesitated. What if there was something else connected to the same red thread? Then just as he mustered the courage to break the red thread, the thread tightened around her head. It seemed to attempt to slice her head into half, but due to Yoko's divinity, it merely gave a rather deep cut around her head. Yoko convulsed, her eyelids moving rapidly as though trying to open but unable to. Blood poured from her head, splattering down Shouryu's grimy robes. Shouryu held her, wrapping his torn sleeve around her head.

"Get a cloth!"

Rankei leapt for the blanket, tearing into rollable strips as he ran back to Shouryu.

"It's not stopping!" Rankei cried out. It looked so painful. "Why isn't she waking?! Anyone would have been woken if they were injured so badly!"

"Not if I commanded her to sleep," a wry voice replied from behind them.

The duo had been so engrossed in stopping her bleeding that they had not noticed Jinhaku and a small group of soldiers enter.

"Rankei." The man greeted him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to lead the armies to Kinpa Palace. But I guess if your beloved mistress has defected, then it would have been the same for you." He smiled. "Get them!"

* * *

Rokuta slumped against the bars, weary from shouting. No matter how much he yelled, they did not seem to give an indication that they heard him. It was true after all that a kirin's senses were much sharper than any human or beast out there. If he could barely hear them, then they must be really far from them. Rokuta turned to look at Keiki. Judging by the amount of time he had spent with the red thread around his head several hundred decades ago at Ganboku, both Keiki and him must be hitting their limit.

"Hey Stone-face."

If faces could go any whiter than white itself, then En Taiho's face would be a perfect example of such. Kirins were already known to have a pale complexion, but now his face was stark of any colour except the brilliant gold that lost much of its luster and hung limply down his face. Keiki was surprised that Enki could even energy to shout let alone a sarcastic nickname. Looking up Keiki saw Rokuta approach him.

"En Taiho, what are you doing?" Keiki tried to pull back, only to find himself too exhausted to even do that.

Without replying, Rokuta slid his finger under Keiki's and his red thread and pulled it. The loud sound of the thread snapping echoed in the cell. The threads unraveled as they fell onto the ground. A surge of energy rushed through him, tingling right down to his fingers. His forehead feeling rather warm as the flood of energy gushing through them seemed to crackle in audibly in the air.

"What have you done?" Keiki stared at Rokuta. He collapsed onto the ground. Though energy surged through him, he could feel the pain from the link that bound him with her majesty. "Your- majesty-" he called weakly.

Rokuta called loudly. "Rikaku."

The grey shirei rose from the shadows. "Present."

"Get us out of here."

The shirei smashed itself against the celling, rubble was fell like rain as it used its great jaws and paws to dig through the wall. Rokuta half dragged, half carried Keiki to a corner where it was safe.

"I'm going to find Shouryu, will you be alright?"

Keiki looked at Rokuta. "Her majesty is in grave trouble."

Rokuta pulled Keiki's arm, pushing back his sleeve as he did. Pale but empty. There were no splotches of black that usually indicated shitsudou. He breathed a sigh of relief. Rokuta wasn't sure what on earth was going on Kei but seeing how he and Keiki had been kidnapped for the longest time, it didn't seem good.

He heard the patter of feet that was running towards their cell. Glancing at his shirei, it did not seem that Rikaku would be able to break the wall that quickly. The walls in the dungeons were built too stoutly. Was there no way of getting through it quickly?

"Keiki! Hurry! Your youwa!" Rokuta pointed at the ceiling. "Get him to smash through it." A shirei that could smash its entire weight on it would be better than a flying shirei in this case.

"Jyuusaku." Keiki commanded. The shirei sprang into action without a further word, throwing its entire weight into the ceiling. The shouhi hurried away from the hole it had dug as the youwa approached. Beneath Rikaku's jaws and paws and Jyuusaku's hard head and strong legs, the ceiling broke a gap large enough for both kirins to squeeze through.

"Keiki! Hurry!" Rokuta shifted. He was gone even before his clothes fell to the ground. Not far behind, he could hear the guards yelling in dismay and Keiki right behind.

* * *

Rishou surged forward, his quick feet rapidly covering the distance between him and Rankei. He liked Rankei. Rankei was a man who never minced his words if he felt the person deserved it. He was never afraid to speak up if he felt indignant. Rankei was a man truly devoted to their cause. Why had he defected along with her? Had he always been devoted because she was devoted? Rishou had not liked her very much, especially when he saw her in Tougoku. She was a double agent. Double agents could never be trusted, particularly agents like her who hid their true face too well. But now was not the time to contemplate on reasons. Stepping lightly to the right, Rishou felt Rankei's blade narrowly miss his cheek. Rankei never minced his words and never held back.

Rankei did not pause as his sword missed; he had expected that from Rishou. Dropping to the ground, he kicked Rishou's feet out. Rishou fell; quickly rolling into a ball, he sprung away lightly. He pulled his sword to chin and charged at Rankei. Just at the last moment, he spun around. His elbow slamming into Rankei's stomach, he leapt back. Rankei winced, taking several involuntary steps. He could hear the fight behind him. From the corner of his eye, he could see En-ou take down several men without breaking a sweat.

'_Always keep your cool, that is the most important.'_

Rankei could almost hear Tai-ou say his favourite line. He let himself take a deep breath. Letting Rishou's sword slide down his, he hit it with just enough force to send it spinning. He jumped forward, stepping onto his foot before kicking Rishou in the shoulder. Rishou fell to the ground. He grabbed his shoulder as he scowled at Rankei.

"Good. You are as good as Tai-ou said you were," Shouryu said. Finally sparing a glance, he realized the reason why Shouryu was speaking so carefree was due to the two large shirei standing over Yoko.

"Is she okay?"

"I've just defended myself," Shouryu declared before Jinhaku could open his mouth. "In the eyes of the heaven, I have done nothing wrong. But you…" Shouryu trailed into silence, a sardonic smile crept onto his face. "Taking the queen, brainwashing her, injuring her. What else could you do to go against the will of heaven?"

Perhaps it was the light for for a moment, Jinhaku's face seemed to pale at Shouryu's words. "A lot of other things. Kei-ou! Kill this man!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**A/N:** There is a discrepancy here. The shirei are drawn and coloured differently in the anime as compared to the book. Hankyo in the book is supposed to have red fur, while in the anime, he has white and grey fur. So I've decided to follow the anime rather than the book.

It just occurred to be that this chapter might be a bit too violent for K rating. So you'll notice a little switch in the rating.

* * *

Time seemed to slow as they turned to see the sleeping Yoko arise. She slipped between the two large shirei, pulling out a hairpin she gripped it tightly like a dagger, charging towards Shouryu.

"Yoko!" The shouts of the two men echoed in the large room; one spinning to the side to avoid her blow, the other rushing to pull her down. Hankyo slid between the hairpin and Shouryu. The hairpin pierced through his thick hide and drawing bright scarlet drops down his white and grey fur. Unyielding to the resistance or maybe not even registering the resistance, she withdrew another hairpin. This time Rankei was more prepared for her. He sheathed his sword, not willing risk injuring her, an act that Shouryu found canting considering Rankei's position on the rebellion.

"Please En-ou, let us bring you to safety," the shirei said. Shouryu shook his head. In her blind obedience to follow the treacherous man's command, she might and probably would do anything to complete it. Bringing him to safety was putting her in more danger. Putting her in more danger would mean that the problem with the smuggled tokis would not be solved in time, thus indirectly affecting En. The smugglers probably were a bigger issue than it appeared on the surface.

Rankei knocked the hairpin out of her hand without any resistance. Gently he knocked her back, trying to tie her up so that she would not injure anyone. However as he moved towards her, she dashed for Rishou's forgotten sword. She pulled it up to a battle stance; completely ignoring Rankei, she rushed towards Shouryu. She stopped just inches before the sword touched Shouryu.

"What are you doing Kei-ou? Kill him!" Shouryu could hear the man behind yell.

Her body resisted her actions but her eyes gave her away. Her eyes dilated, filled with fear and worry gave the impression that she was begging Shouryu to move. Yoko stood over him, her movements frozen by something invisible. Beads of sweat dribbled down her forehead indicating a fight with probably herself. Shouryu turned to Jinhaku. He had forgotten how that man was the mastermind to all this. If he killed him then Yoko would be set free. He ran to him, side-stepping one of the soldier's blade, he slid beneath the soldier's legs. Seizing Jinhaku's arm, he rotated it to his back, forcing Jinhaku to move up to ease the discomfort, but what Shouryu didn't know was that Jinhaku was a competent warrior with decades and maybe even tens of decades of experience to back him up.

Jinhaku flipped, uncaring that his left arm dislocated. With expert ease, he popped his shoulder back into its socket, rotating a few times as he drew his sword. There was no hesitation in his blade as Jinhaku rushed in and neither was there in Shouryu. Jinhaku swung, his sword swinging through empty air. He missed. Flipping backward, he narrowly ducked Shouryu's sword but Shouryu bought himself time to move in. As Jinhaku rolled to his feet, Shouryu had hurled forward, his blade digging deep into Jinhaku's side. Jinhaku had miraculously dodged the stomach blow. The two stared at each other. For a moment, it seemed that there was a stand-off. They eyed each other. Jinhaku felt it and Shouryu knew it though it was not obvious to the audience. Jinhaku could not beat Shouryu.

"Yoko!"

Shouryu turned to peer from the corner of his eyes to see what had happened and in that spilt second, Jinhaku lunged. Shouryu spin a little too late. His blade diving into Shouryu's chest, drawing a red line down his chest. That was all Jinhaku could do before Shouryu's blade took him squarely through the chest. He staggered, blood streaming down his clothes. He staggered towards Shouryu with an odd smile on his face. "She'll never be free from me," he coughed, blood dribbling on Shouryu's already red robes. He fell heavily onto the floor.

* * *

The sky above was dark, save for the thin silver hanging low in the sky. It almost seemed that even the stars were missing, like the heavens held its breath in anticipation for the future of Kei. Keiki could see small puffs of clouds form as he panted. His feet cantering in the dark overcast sky, he could feel the wind twine in and out of his mane. Small white flecks began to fall, increasing in size and quantity as he flew on the wind to his queen. Quiet unlike the thunderous sound of rain that often drowned out the sound of even his own thoughts, Keiki was left with bewildering maze of questions in his head and nothing to distract him. He could see Enki ahead of him, running through the white snow. With everything going on, Keiki had prepared himself for the very strong possibility of shitsudou. Having experienced shitsudou before, Keiki had more experience with it than any other kirin. He was feeling weak, but it was not the same kind of weak. Her aura was still strong and pure unlike the wrongness that he felt from You-ou towards the end of her reign. Like Enki, he did not need anyone to tell him where Yoko was. Her aura was like a brilliant, pulsating light.

Keiki gagged as he landed on the balcony. The stench of blood wafted through the air. Though much of the stench was covered by the crisp snow, Keiki could see that the source of smell was none other than his queen.

"Your majesty!" he cried out, leaping forward and despite being too awkward of his nakedness, nothing mattered more than the well-being of his queen. He plucked Yoko from Rankei, cradling her, heedless of the blood that went onto him and Rankei's warnings.

"Oei, Shouryu! What the hell is this?!" Rokuta hollered, landing on the balcony. His bright golden mane was dampened by the layer of snow that covered it. He shook himself perhaps to clear the snow on him, although more likely in frustration at the scene before him.

"Oh! There's my kirin," Shouryu chuckled. "Leave one of your shirei and return to En, will you?" He flashed a smile at Rokuta before turning back to Jinhaku.

"Shouryu! Are you saving Kei at the expense of En?"

"I merely defended myself. Now get out of here."

"Shouryu-"

"Go! Hurry!" There was an urgency in Shouryu's voice that compelled Rokuta to follow his orders.

"Keiki, hurry and get your shirei to take her back to the palace." Rankei lowered his voice, "Don't worry I'll stop this."

Keiki barely took gave Rankei a second glance before transforming into his beast form. With Kaiko holding Yoko in place, he flew back to the palace. Kirins were the fastest beasts when riding the wind after all. Rokuta followed, casting a long stare as he leapt of the balcony. There was nothing he could do to change his king's mind and nothing he could to do disobey him.

"_With Heaven's Mandate, I greet my master. Henceforth, I will serve you always with utmost loyalty. This is my pledge."_

"_Some place green… with grain in the fields and leaves on the trees. A land where no one starves. Where everyone can sleep under a roof, safe from the cold, untouched by the dew. Where all they know will be peace, without the fear of famine or war."_

"_A king cannot rule on simply justice and mercy."_

Rokuta could feel his tears slid down his long snout as he flew through the air. How the people of En would suffer from his king's actions.

* * *

Silence hung heavily in the air. The soldiers stared uneasily before deciding the next in command would be Rishou who had gotten up and backed near the door.

"Was she okay?" Shouryu had his back facing Rankei, his stare never moving from the frozen soldiers before him.

"She was not moving, but breathing. It was difficult to disarm her without hurting her."

"But he's dead."

"I don't think that was what controlled her." Rankei frowned. Saving Yoko had been one of his worries, but he had sidetracked and almost forgotten the real reason why he was here. "En-ou. Get out of here, before you get Enki even sadder."

"What about you? What about Sekki and Shoukei?"

"Don't worry about them. I'll deal with it."

Shouryu turned and ran towards the balcony. He could feel the shirei rising from his shadow. Rokuta had left his two best shirei behind. Sanki caught Shouryu as he leapt off the balcony and without a backward glance, Shouryu rode towards Kinpa Palace.

"So you're going to deal with the ten of us all by yourself? Did you overestimate yourself?" Rishou sneered.

"Perhaps I should re-introduce myself properly," Re-tying his sheath to his belt, Rankei said, "I am Rankei of Kokei, adopted son of Kei-ou, the glory king; student of Enho, also known as Etsu Otsu and disciple of Tai-ou, the peace king now known as the undefeated king." There was a faint smile as he unsheathed his sword, turning his brown eyes to look evenly into Rishou's grey eyes. "No. I do not think I overestimated myself. Did you overestimate yourselves?"

* * *

She hugged herself tightly, not willing to let herself give in to the growing weakness inside her. Shoukei felt her eyes burn as she buried her face into her skirts. She would not cry. Blinking the tears away, she gazed at the cold metal bars, recalling the last time she had been in a cell. It had been winter then, Hou's winters were bone-cold. Furious at world, furious at Gekkei, she had been blind to the world. Yoko had opened her eyes to the world in the span of twenty years. She watched Hou rise, helped Tai, watched Ryuu fall.

"Yoko-" she muttered. "I didn't plan this to happen."

"Then what did you think would happen by starting a rebellion against her majesty?"

"I-" Shoukei paused in her words. There was no need to prove herself to Sekki. A mere commoner like him would never understand the complexity of the issue at hand. "You'll never understand."

The doors of the dungeon flew open. One of the guards flew through the door, slamming into the stone wall. Youtashi strolled through with an air of indifference.

"Found you."

"What are you doing here?" Shoukei could not believe her eyes. She had expected Rankei but not Youtashi.

He ducked. The soldier's sword flew wildly over his head. Youtashi plunged his sword into the soldier. Blood flowed down his sword as he pulled it out. The man stumbled and fell to the ground near the soldier that flew through the door. Sekki could see an innumerable mass of soldiers struggling to enter the dungeon, but because of the door's narrow width, only one could come in at a time. The dungeon had been made to prevent people from escaping, not breaking in. Youtashi swiped to the left, the sword barely missing him. Bringing his sword up, Youtashi slashed the soldier up the chest. His sword cutting through the armor and into the man. Blood spurted onto Youtashi, but carrying stoic expression that rivaled Keiki's, Youtashi merely turned to the new opponent as his old one fell to the ground. His new opponent paused, taking in the carnage before him.

"I was charged to look after you," Youtashi said, continuing the conversation as though he had not just killed two men while in-between sentences.

He slashed at the soldier who finally decided to attack. Shoukei could hear the audible crack as the soldier crumpled. His eyes slid to the shackles on her wrist and ankles and the lock on the cell.

"Are you looking for this?" Shinzou jangled a bunch of keys.

He walked into the wider corridors. "If you want it, you'll have to defeat me." With those words, he launched forward. Shoukei had half expected him to draw a sword. Tokis and plain swords were the preferred choice followed by daitous and iron spears for their range and weight. What Shinzou pulled out was none of the above. Shinzou was trained in the arts of stealth fighting. Bare hand and extreme close range fighting was something he excelled in. This Shinzou knew and the narrow corridor with its metal bars was the perfect terrain. He threw his small darts, causing Youtashi to block with his sword. Slipping into his range, Shinzou pulled his long dagger, slashing at Youtashi's stomach. He flipped back, just in time. He jumped, spinning around, his kick clipped the side of Shinzou's head. Youtashi shifted forward as Shinzou reeled backward.

Shinzou had anticipated that. He rolled to the ground. Pulling his legs up, he kicked him in the face as Youtashi came. Youtashi took several steps back, stumbling on purpose. Shinzou pushed him. Both falling onto the ground, Shinzou pounded into Youtashi. He had not expected any other outcome. That was until a commotion came from the front doors.

Sneaking a side look, Shinzou gave all the opening Youtashi had been waiting for. He pulled the small sword, stabbed Youtashi.

"I see you've taken care of that," said the cool, low-pitched tenor voice. He wiped the blood off his face with the side of his sleeve before taking a look at the speaker.

The man, probably not a day older than twenty, stood over him. His hand stretched out to help Youtashi up. He carried himself carelessly and judging by the amount of unconscious people behind him, Youtashi was right to judge him as lethal. He was strong enough to subdue so many people without killing or fatally injuring them. It was a feat that Youtashi himself could have difficulty carrying out.

"Rankei!" Shoukei cried out happily.

"There you are, mistress. Yoko has been brought back to the palace, unconscious but not freed. Would you like to clean up?"

She frowned. Unconscious but not freed. Surely Enho and Koukan would be able to deal it. She nodded slowly, her mind busy with forming plans.

"Shoukei. Where are you two going?" Sekki asked upon noticing that they were not going the same way as Youtashi and him.

"We have a rebellion to attend to," she replied with a grim look.

"Then I'm coming with you," Sekki said.

"As I will," Youtashi added.

"What? Why?"

"I was charged to look after you." Youtashi merely repeated what he had said earlier, indifference to Shoukei's reaction.

"In order to judge impartially, you'll have to see things with your own eyes."


End file.
